Historic bells in Mirfield are to sound for the last time.
The bells of St Mary’s Church will be rung for the final time to welcome people to worship on Easter Sunday, April 5, before a £77,000 restoration project to create a new ring of bells.
It will be an historic moment as the existing bells have sounded for the past 144 years.
They are housed in a tower which was designed by the famous architect Sir George Gilbert Scott to accommodate a ring of ten bells with ropes that have Yorkshire ends. Now, the bells along with the tower itself, are in serious need of restoration.
During the restoration of the Tower, funded in part by a Heritage Lottery grant, scaffolding will be erected around the Tower, giving experts the opportunity to install a lifting beam in the Ringing Chamber of the Tower to facilitate the lowering and raising of the bells.
Prior to the bells being removed, experienced ringers from the Yorkshire Association of Change Ringers will be given the opportunity to ring the bells for the last time.
The Vicar, the Rev Hugh Baker, said: “Sometime in April the dismantling and lowering of the bells will begin. The first six bells are to be melted down and recast and the back four will then be re-tuned to complete a much improved ring of ten.
“The total cost of the project will be £77,000 plus another £5,000 for the lifting beam and £5,000 to repair the louvres after removing them to bring in the lifting beam.
“The family of the late John Crossland have donated £10,000 to recast one of the bells and are hoping to name it Uncle John. The bell ringers have raised £65,000 by running a Saturday café and other events
“The bells will be lowered, one at a time, through a hole in the ringing room floor down to the floor of the church. This will be a spectacle never seen before on such a scale in Mirfield and is unlikely to be seen again for some time to come. Safe provision will be made for interested parties to observe certain stages of the bell removal and this event will be well advertised beforehand.
“Once the bells have been lowered to the floor of the church they will be transferred by a lorry provided by Taylor’s Foundry, down the M1 to Loughborough”.
Church members hope to arrange trips to the foundry to watch some of the new bells being cast. There is also a precedent for casting inscriptions into other bells being cast.
On their return, which should be in the autumn, the reverse will happen. The bells will be hoisted up, one by one, through the ringing room floor to the belfry where they will be rehung by an experienced bell hanger assisted by some of the bell ringers and their supporters.
Factfile
The proper term for bell-ring is campanology
Bells are cast, then tuned, then sounded
Change ringing began early in the 17th cetury and now there are 4,000 peals in the UK every year
A collection of bells is known as a ring of bells
St Mary’s Church, Mirfield, has 10 bells
The main parts of a bell are the barrel, the cannon and the clapper
There are more than 7,000 English-style rings
