Last and largest bell lowered to ringing gallery

It was an awesome site to watch the last and largest of the bells being lowered to the ringing gallery yesterday. The tenor bell, with a diameter of just over three and a half feet, was made by the John Taylor Bellfoundry of Loughborough back in 1912. It has hung for over 90 years at the top of the tower and stayed in tune despite the battering it has taken from the weather, and years of neglect. Inscribed on the side of the bell are the names of the rector, the Reverend William Horsburgh and churchwardens Hawkey and Flamank.  Click on the "play" button on the vid clip below and give it a minute to load!

 

 

The Reverend Horsburgh appears to have hailed from Ireland, which resonated (pun intended) with this author! The Flamank family is one of the most famous in Cornwall, as Thomas Flamank was one of the leaders of the famous Cornish rebellion of 1497. Quite incredibly, I have traced one of the Flamank descendants through marriage to Kris Flamank in Australia! Kris turns out to be an expert on the Flamank family and is pretty certain that the R.H. Flamank whose name is inscribed on the bell was a local butcher and farmer who may have worshipped with our Methodist brethren for some time.

Well, let's hope we don't have to wait another 90 years to get this marvellous bell back in action again!

Five Bells Lowered - Three To Go!

Over the last couple of days, Phil and team have carefully lowered five of the bells onto the ringing gallery.

To protect the floor of the ringing gallery, the bells have been set onto wooden templates, edged with orange paint as shown above.

One of the larger bells has the following inscription "This bell was given to St.Enoder church by Robert H.Chapman of Hendra, A.D. 1923".I'm sure someone in our congregation or "out there" might know if this person has relatives nearby. I'm sure Robert's descendants would be keen to have the opportunity to see this bell sitting where it is today!

This is the new trap door that Phil fitted during Phase I. I remember  one of the bell hanging companies telling us about a similar project where the floor was installed but without the trap door. When it came to lowering their bells ... oops!

This coming Monday, I'm hoping to video capture the last three bells - the oldest and the heaviest - being lowered. Watch this space and keep your fingers crossed that all goes smoothly!

Bell Frame Dismantling Underway!

I was "up the tower" with our contractor Phil Robson a few days ago discussing the work underway to actually dismantle the frame and lower the bells. As the work progresses, the degree to which the frame and the ringing mechanisms have deteriorated has become even clearer.

I'm very glad we are at this phase in the restoration process. We had awful visions of one or other of the beels breaking free and crashing down through the new floors into the kitchen! Not good.

Everytime we look around "up there", we find more work to do. Phil called me this morning to say that the heavy rain was breaking through fresh holes in the roof and getting through to the new floors many feet below. The rooks, apparently, pull the plaster work between the tiles away, loosening the slates. There's also a rat hole which we are dealing with!

I took the picture above with my mobile camera. It shows some of the old wooden ringing wheels dismantled and the clappers - those long iron rods at the bottom left of the frame - set aside on one of the intermediate floors. The many oscillations back and forth inside the bell chamber have flattened the once rounded balls at the end of each clapper. Holding one of them, I couldn't help but wonder how long it might take to have them swinging, ringing again.

The story so far ...

The bells at St. Enoder have not been rung for several years following an inspection and engineering report that highlighted a variety of safety and performance issues. The bells themselves are in reasonable condition and represent a significant historical, cultural & local asset. A phased restoration and repair program is currently underway that is focused on getting the bells at St.Enoder ringing again.

At one time, there was an enthusiastic band of campanologists that regularly rang the bells and the sound system in place today that mimics the ringing of bells is a sad reminder of what should be a local clarion call.

This part of the St.Enoder blog network is dedicated to helping support the program giving you an opportunity to donate, get involved or just keep up to date with our progress!

Summoned By Bells

The home page on my PC is set at BBC Cornwall and it was there that I read recently about the bell ringing program that's scheduled to take place in Cornwall this August to celebrate the centenary of the birth of John Betjeman. John is buried at the church of St. Enodoc. Coincidently, this may have a connection with St.Enoder since there are some that argue that St.Enoder and St.Enodoc are one and the same.

However, as many of you know, the bells at St.Enoder will not be joining in the celebration. For several years now, the bells have hung idle, their chimes replaced by set of speakers and a tape recording which is rather unceremoniously switched on and off as needed.
Whilst the bells themselves are in a very serviceable condition, the iron frame supporting them has rusted significantly. Year upon year of wet Cornish winters and the sea-sprayed air have conspired to render the installation unsafe for ringing. Our most recent Quinquennial Inspection has yet again highlighted the immediate need to “secure bell frame and bells or lower”.

Like many churches, St.Enoder has a dedicated “bell and tower” fund where those who wish to bequeath, donate or raise funds specifically for the project can contribute. Bells, their maintenance, relevance and perceived value are, like other “issues” in the Church Of England, are liable to arouse passions one way or the other.

At St. Enoder, our restoration program has made some considerable progress over the last few years.

The broad plan was to break the restoration into three phases.

Phase 1 was to install a ringing gallery on a new first floor and design a screen to front off the arch of the bell tower along with repairs to the intermediate floors. This allowed us to make better use of the space in the bell tower so we were able to install a much needed kitchen area.

Phase 2 will involve the dismantling of the bell frames and the actual lowering of the bells onto the new floors for storage. This is underway as I write this!

Phase 3 will involve the production of a new bell frame and the re-installation of the bells back at the top of the tower.

Our funds will have dried up when Phase 2 is completed and Phase 3 will require an estimated £50,000. If you are interested in getting the bells at St.Enoder back in action, we will be setting up a team to focus on fundraising and achieving this goal in the coming months. Please contact Church-warden if you are interested in helping out or want to make a donation.