St Thomas's Bells Gallery | Redwick History

St Thomas's Bells

Gallery

Bomb Damage

The five bells in Redwick Church were rung regularly by the band of ringers before the Second World War; during the war all church bells were silent only to be rung if an invasion took place. The damage resulting from the bomb that fell close to the church on the night of August 5th 1942 meant that the bells could no longer be rung when the war was over. Wires were attached to the clapper of each bell which enabled them to be chimed but not rung “full circle”.

Wooden Cabinet

The wires were housed in a wooden cabinet which stood on the north side of the choir stalls. It is now on the south wall of the church close to the door to the tower.

Cabinet Brass Plaque

There is a brass plaque on the cabinet:
TO THE GLORY OF GOD
These Chimes
were erected to the memory of
SELINA JANE BAKER
and
W.E.BAKER J.P.
Who was Churchwarden
of this Parish for 37 years

Removal

When it was decided to do the work to enable the bells to be rung again the bells had to be removed first along with the wooden support beams and frames which had supported them.

Current Level

To enable this work to done scaffolding was built from the existing ringing chamber floor above the choir stalls up through the wooden bell frame which was at the height of the upper louvres in the top storey of the tower. The bells were supported from the scaffolding while the old timbers were removed from around them.
On November 7th, 1987 the five bells were carefully lowered through the trap door above the choir stalls and taken away to Whites of Appleton. This firm was also making a steel bell frame to support the bells. It was decided that the tower needed reinforcing with a concrete ring beam on which the new steel frame could be installed. It was also decided to site this ring beam at a lower level to reduce the effect of the swinging bells on the masonry of the tower. There was a step reduction in the wall thickness at each storey level in the tower and it was decided to cast the ring beam on to one of these steps at a level some twelve feet (about 3.67 metres) below the level of the old wooden frame.

Re-inforcement Bars

John Evans and Selwyn Monk fixing the reinforcement bars for the concrete ring beam. The reel of wire for tying the bars in place can be seen in the foreground looped over the scaffolding.

Concreting

The concrete had been ordered so that it was pre-bagged in the right proportions. Ken Reece is opening one of the bags to make up a mix of concrete.

Mixing Concrete

Ken Reece, Selwyn Monk and Roy Duthie, and others, mixing the concrete

2 Mixers

Two mixers were used to make a sufficient amount of concrete in a continuous operation.

Moving Concrete

The mixed concrete was poured into wheelbarrows

Rope Pully

then transferred to buckets to be hauled up on a rope pulley to where it was needed

Buckets of Concrete

Buckets arrived to be poured where needed

Beams Chamfered

Shuttering was fixed by Selwyn Monk, positioned below and in front of the reinforcing bars so that the concrete could be poured into make the solid beam latched on to the ledge in the tower masonry. John Evans is pouring in the concrete. The beam had to be chamfered to accommodate the stairs of the tower in the south west corner.

Door Plaque

The magnificent efforts of all concerned are recorded on a plaque on the door leading to the church tower. On Thursday, November 29th, 1990 90cwt of concrete was mixed and hoisted up by a pulley block.

Mediaeval Bells

Once the concrete ring beam was set Mr Brian White of Whites of Appleton came to supervise the installation of the new steel frame. He was very complimentary about the preparation work that had been performed, saying “I couldn’t have done it better myself.” Praise indeed!
Two major steel beams were rested on the top of the ring beam; these would support the new steel bell frame into which the restored bells would be hung.
The bells were then brought back to the church to be rehung. Stan and Selwyn Monk are looking at one of the two mediaeval bells both of which had been given new headstocks while retaining their original canons. Stan was the only surviving member of the pre-war ringing band and was keen to get the bells ringing again. He was made President of the Redwick Ringers.

Transporting Bells

The bells were transported on a trolley previously used for carrying milk churns on the Duthie’s farm.

Hoisting Bells

They were then hoisted up back through the trap door by a chain block and introduced into their respective pits in the new steel frame.

Bill Jenkyn Jones

The bells were arranged so that the tenor, treble and second bell swung east west while the third and fourth swung north south to minimise the horizontal forces on the tower. A floor of scaffold planks was introduced into the lower levels of the new steel frame to make it safer to inspect and maintain the bells. White’s men then completed the installation of the wheels, pulleys, sliders, stays and ropes and adjusted everything to their satisfaction. The bells were finally rung in Easter week of 1991 after being silent for fifty years.
Not many months later the enthusiastic band of ringers wanted a sixth bell to enable more complex methods (ringing patterns) to be rung.
The decision was made to add an additional bell. This involved a considerable amount of fundraising, as had the work on the tower and the new frames, which was led mainly by the Church Treasurer, Bill Jenkyn Jones.

Bell is Ready

The new bell was ready to be hung in 1993.

Pair of Support Beams

In order to incorporate the new bell the bells had to be reconfigured within the relatively small (12’ by 12’) area of the tower. Two new steel support beams had to be fixed into the walls of the tower at a higher level than the existing bells. The metal beams were concreted into holes that had originally held wooden beams.

Re-configuration

It was decided, following advice from Whites, that the original treble would be hung at the higher level and become the second and that the new treble would be put in the place of the original treble between the tenor and what had been the second but had now become the third at the lower level.