[Bell Historians] Conservation gone wrong (was Whitechapel charges)

[fartwell2000]

--- In bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com, "Bickerton, Roderic (SELEX GALILEO, UK)" <Roderic.Bickerton at ...> wrote:
>
> 
> 
> Lets include the problems caused by retaining an old useless but
> historic frame in the only place in the tower suitable for bells,
> resulting in the bells failing to do there work because of reduced
> power, being unpleasant to ring because they are to close to the
> ringers, or permanently blighting future use of the ground floor of the
> tower.
> An even worse outcome, not infrequent for village 3's is they are "made
> safe" by  being hung dead in the old frame, wiping out may be 400 years
> of ringing heritage in the name of preservation.
> 
> 
>

   I agree Rod, and I can think of only a handfull of places up North off the top of my head where old frames have been preserved and bells hung in a new frame. Thornton in Craven and Cartmel do spring to mind though but some of the old ring at Cartmel are still in use in the old frame. The composite Taylor frame was left at Holy Trinity, Larkhill, Blackburn when the Church was made redundant and the bells transferred to another Blackburn Church. Maybe elements of that frame could have been used elsewhere?

    At Carlton in Craven (Skipton), the retention of the KP frame may have influenced rehanging the ring dead. I and another have visited several times before the rehang and thought the frame to be a copy of a KP frame or maybe a rebuild of what was there before the tower was rebuilt, but the frame appeared to have only a couple of old timbers-the rest having marks from being machine cut. Perhaps GAD has visited and may know more?

  

Alan