Post by abcxyz on Feb 25, 2011 18:44:43 GMT
St Matthew’s Bells
‘...very tuneful bells. Lovely Peal!’, wrote visiting bellringers in the visitors book in 2010; not a view apparently shared by the local bell ringers, for last year this was to be ‘improved’. So parishioners may have wondered why it was recently announced that the three historic bells dated 1480, 1615 & 1639 ‘Listed for Preservation’ by the Church Buildings Council were to be permanently removed from the peal and replacement bells added, the old bells thereby not preserved for change-ringing. In February it was announced that the oldest bell of 1480 was too thin to retune, so that bell and the two other seventeenth-century bells would be set aside for clock striking and three salvaged bells purchased – ‘our heritage would be maintained’ they opined. However, it turns out that there is no permission to set aside the bells or purchase replacement bells, only to retune certain bells. When permission (Faculty) was granted by the Diocesan Advisory Committee the date of the bells was not appreciated, since pre-Reformation bells, such as St Matthew’s 1480 bell, have long been deemed too precious to re-tune.
Change-ringing peals are ancient musical instruments, here housed in a 300-year old wooden bellframe, fully integrated into the architecture of listed historic parish churches. So when the PCC member leading this project says recently ‘...the present (bell)frame will be cut up in the tower to enable it to be removed...’ apparently on grounds that the bellhanger deems the foundation beam ends are rotted beyond repair (not independently verified), he moves on to incorrectly attributing the DAC with the view that they seem ‘now to think that we should have a new steel bell frame’ – something for which there is certainly no permission. Is one to believe this empty historic bellframe is currently safe from precipitous use of the chain saw, when the tower captain judges it to be an excellent bellframe? Too many historic wooden bellframes have already been lost for the wrong reasons. Doubtless the DAC made an error in overlooking the dates of these bells in the original Faculty – it happens – but the matter is now one for a specialist architect and engineer, the national amenity societies and the Church Buildings Council, before any further works are contemplated or any further funds gifted for an unnecessarily damaging scheme.
‘...very tuneful bells. Lovely Peal!’, wrote visiting bellringers in the visitors book in 2010; not a view apparently shared by the local bell ringers, for last year this was to be ‘improved’. So parishioners may have wondered why it was recently announced that the three historic bells dated 1480, 1615 & 1639 ‘Listed for Preservation’ by the Church Buildings Council were to be permanently removed from the peal and replacement bells added, the old bells thereby not preserved for change-ringing. In February it was announced that the oldest bell of 1480 was too thin to retune, so that bell and the two other seventeenth-century bells would be set aside for clock striking and three salvaged bells purchased – ‘our heritage would be maintained’ they opined. However, it turns out that there is no permission to set aside the bells or purchase replacement bells, only to retune certain bells. When permission (Faculty) was granted by the Diocesan Advisory Committee the date of the bells was not appreciated, since pre-Reformation bells, such as St Matthew’s 1480 bell, have long been deemed too precious to re-tune.
Change-ringing peals are ancient musical instruments, here housed in a 300-year old wooden bellframe, fully integrated into the architecture of listed historic parish churches. So when the PCC member leading this project says recently ‘...the present (bell)frame will be cut up in the tower to enable it to be removed...’ apparently on grounds that the bellhanger deems the foundation beam ends are rotted beyond repair (not independently verified), he moves on to incorrectly attributing the DAC with the view that they seem ‘now to think that we should have a new steel bell frame’ – something for which there is certainly no permission. Is one to believe this empty historic bellframe is currently safe from precipitous use of the chain saw, when the tower captain judges it to be an excellent bellframe? Too many historic wooden bellframes have already been lost for the wrong reasons. Doubtless the DAC made an error in overlooking the dates of these bells in the original Faculty – it happens – but the matter is now one for a specialist architect and engineer, the national amenity societies and the Church Buildings Council, before any further works are contemplated or any further funds gifted for an unnecessarily damaging scheme.