Article on the bell refurbishment of 2001

For whom the bell tolls…

By Michael Egan, July 2001

Michael Egan accomplished much research in the 90s and 2000s, about the history of this church

Many parishioners will have seen the recent display of photographs at the back of the church, showing the removal for refurbishment of our splendid old bell, and know of its re-installation. It was the first time that the bell had been lowered from the belfry since it was installed in 1867.

Times have changed enormously since then, but the bell was going home. It had been cast specially for us in Whitechapel by a firm called Mears and Stainbank, one of the ancestor companies of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, which can trace its bell making activities back to 1570, making it one of the oldest companies in the country.  As their logo, they still use the symbol of Robert Mot, the Master Founder of that time.

When our church was formally opened in December 1851, it is apparent that the building had been fitted out and suitably decorated to a very high standard. It seems possible that a bell would have been acquired at that time. A description of the church (in The Tablet of 27th December 1851) refers to the lofty bell arch leading into the body of the church, and also mentions a Sanctus bell-cot on the roof over the arch in front of the sanctuary. There was, however, no definite reference to any bells actually then being in place. A search in the Victorian sales ledgers at the Foundry has not revealed any reference to them selling us a bell in 1851 or 1852. Perhaps the cost was beyond the immediate resources of the parish, and was a finishing touch which came later.

In fact, the Church Notices book (in the Greenwich Local History Library) on Low Sunday 1860, records that ‘donations are solicited for the Great Bell’. In the Foundry sales ledger on 30th May 1878, there is an entry for the sale of a 1 cwt bell to Stuart Knill of this parish for the price of £18.7.00d. This date can still be seen on the Sanctus bell from the garden at the back of the church, with the help of a pair of binoculars.  

We next hear of the great bell in the Church Notices book on 17th March, 1867. It announces ‘a meeting at 4 o’clock in the Girls’ School-room (known as St Anne’s school – in the building adjacent to the Presbytery). To make arrangements for replacing the present bell with a new one, the church bell having been cracked nearly a twelvemonth since. The sum of £50 will have to be raised’. On 24th March a letter had been received from Mears specifying ‘that a sum of £45 would cover all expenses whatsoever including fixing an over clapper for tolling and also hanging’. The company explained that the bell had ‘been broken by what is called Clocking, that is fastening a rope to the end of the clapper and pulling it to the side of the bell, instead of swinging the bell’. The congregation was advised that ‘subscriptions for the new bell will be received after every service’. Some things to do not change!

On Sunday, 19th May, it was announced ‘that tomorrow evening, the ceremony of blessing the new bell will be performed at 7½ (ie o’clock)’ by Bishop Grant (born 1816, Bp 1851-70). Presumably it was hoisted to the belfry soon afterwards. It was rung by a single bell-rope which ran down through the bell ringing chamber (under the belfry) into the narthex or entrance area under the tower. Doubtless, it was used on Sundays and at marriages and requiem Masses and was also rung at the Angelus hours.

During the renovation of the interior of the church in the 1960s, it was decided to operate the bell with an electro-mechanical system (the control panel being in the heavy steel box on the wall under the stairs to the organ loft). This activated a large solenoid connected to the clapper inside the belfry. It is said that the new mechanism became so unreliable that occasionally the Angelus was rung in the middle of the night!

In the Millennium year, it was thought timely to ask for quotations to refurbish the bell, together with a modern control system. Not surprisingly, the estimates were very much more expensive than in 1867, and in view of the problems with the church roof, the project had very low priority. However, as part of our appeals to Trusts and Charities, a parishioner approached the Heritage of London Trust. They very generously offered us £2,500 towards the cost of restoring the bell, which we were delighted to accept.

Accordingly, the bell was lowered from the tower on 1st May by a three-man team using a series of pulleys high up in the belfry. It took approximately three hours of slow and careful effort to get the bell to ground level, passing it through a trap door in the belfry floor and through a hatchway in the ringing chamber, which opened up into the top of the entrance area below the tower.

Now that the bell is back after its renovation, the inscription and decorations are clearly visible again. In a band around the crown of the bell can be seen: Mears et Stainbank Londini Fecerunt MDCCCLXVII (made by Mears and Stainbank 1867). The prayer on the waist of the bell reads: ‘Maria pulchra tota, susipe supplicum vota’. Mary without blemish, hear the sound of those who beg for help.  

Bell buffs may like to know that the bell rings on a note of F sharp, is 3’6” in diameter and weighs just over 13 cwt – nearly three-quarters of a ton. It was made of Bell Metal, an alloy of 77% copper and 23% tin. After it had been sand blasted to clean off years of tarnish and encrustation, the cast-in crown stable was cut away and a stress-relieving centre hole drilled out, to take a new independent staple-sum-clapper which will be operated electro-magnetically. This clapper unit is on a ¾ inch steel rod which passed up through the top of the bell and between the double canons and then through the new deadstock above which it is bolted into place. The deadstock is of Iroko timber and was shaped up to fit over the canons which will be secured to it with new forged iron straps. While the bell was originally used for full circle ringing, it will not be hung ‘dead’ in a fixed position.

It will be rung to welcome people to the 11am Mass on Sundays and special feast days and at marriages, as well as being tolled more slowly for funerals. This seems an excellent way to finally record both the Millennium and the refurbishment of our church roof. It will be pleasant to have the traditional sound of our old bell ringing out again from the tower. How did the quotation from John Donne continue? It tolls for …

*Whilst there is concern for the condition of the stonework of the Spire we have not been ringing the bell. The last time it was rung was on the death of the Queen in September 2022. 

See more photos of the bell being returned after its refurbishment, in the restoration gallery.