St. GILES NEWS
Installation of the new St. Giles BellsWe have been advised that the builders work and bell installation will commence on Monday 21st MayVisit to Bell Foundry, Loughborough
Thursday 16th February 2012 saw a group of about 30 people
from the Orpington area travel to the Taylor’s Bell Foundry
in Loughborough to witness the casting of a new bell to
complete the new peal of bells shortly to be installed in
the tower at St Giles, Farnborough. |
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| The foundry buildings | Inside the musem | |
The bell foundry is a working factory and so there were strict rules to adhere to such as no open-toed shoes and a list of attendees had to be given in to Mary Barrass of Taylor’s on arrival. Mary is an experienced ringer and has rung on almost all the peals of bells worldwide – close to 6,000 – so we were in good hands! It was lunch time when we all checked in at the foundry entrance which houses the foundry shop and forms the meeting point for the start of the museum tour. We were fortunate and delighted to learn that our guide for the afternoon was Rev David Cawley, who has a long association with Taylor’s and is currently responsible for a parish in Margate. David has visited the tower at St Giles and been very helpful with advice and encouragement in getting the St Giles bell project running. He has extensive experience with bell installation works, particularly with light bells and has been a Diocesan Advisor and is an Honorary Life Member of the Kent County Association of Change Ringers. In fact, David is so keen on all things associated with bells that he undertook to act as our guide during a period of leave from his Kent parish! While the furnace was heating up the bell metal for our bell, we had the benefit of David’s knowledge and he showed us a range of bells in the Taylor’s museum from different eras and we could see how, over the centuries, the bells have changed in shape and sound. |
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More modern bells are tuned in a highly sophisticated way compared to their predecessors that were frequently cast in a field adjoining the church and then roughly tuned by having chunks chipped off them with a hammer and chisel! After spending some time in the museum we then went on a tour of the foundry where we saw various bells some of which were awaiting installation or looking for a new home after being removed from a tower as part of a bell project. One such example was the old tenor bell from St Michael’s, Cornhill which became redundant when a new peal of 12 bells was installed in 2011. The old tenor - the heaviest bell - weighed in at a massive 2 tons and 2 hundredweights! |
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| We then moved on to the
tuning workshop where we saw and heard our five bells which
have already been cast and are awaiting the final bell of
the ring of six being cast that afternoon. Also there was
the 9cwt bell removed from the tower of St Giles on, 2nd
January, and taken for a service at Taylor’s before being
returned with the new peal of six bells. |
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It was explained to us that to cast a bell there is an inner and outer mould and molten bell metal is poured in the gap and that any inscriptions have to be produced back to front so that they read correctly on the finished bell. The inscription has to be type set very carefully as misprints aren’t easy to rectify! We were shown an example of an historic error ‘LOVE DOG’ ! We hope the inscription for our bell was double checked so no such error arises! For most, the highlight of the trip was still to come. We were informed that the bell metal in the furnace was up to the required temperature and ready for pouring into the mould. We were directed to a viewing gallery where we could see the last minute checks to the liquid bell metal and then the overhead gantry transported the container across the foundry to the pit where our bell mould was waiting. The metal was poured and then stirred to ensure that any air bubbles are removed as these could give rise to a flaw in the casting. |
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Once all the hot work was finished we were allowed down on to the foundry floor to see the mould at close quarters. It will need several days to cool down before the mould can be removed and the bell can then be tuned the following week. |
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| After this we returned to the foundry shop and made a few
purchases before going on our way. To round the day off,
the ringers among us drove to Clifton, a southern suburb of
Nottingham, to ring on the three peals of bells there; one
ring of six bells and two rings of eight. Two of these are
light and not dissimilar to those going in at St Giles and
interestingly these two rings of bells were at churches in
Farnborough Road! Once ringers had adjusted to the lighter
bells they acquitted themselves very well and the younger
and smaller ringers were particularly able to shine as the
bells were not physically demanding. |
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After that we all went on our separate
ways tired but very happy with the day’s events and eagerly
awaiting the installation of our new ring of bells. Nick Wilkins Feb. 2012 |
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