Everything ready for the bellhanger

Finally, we are ready for Matthew Higby to come and take three bells for tuning and 5 headstocks away for refurbishment.

The tenor headstock came off easier than we thought, with only one of the four bell bolts needing to be cut off. It was carefully lifted off the bell with a chain block, being a bit too heavy to lift otherwise.

7th headstock off and frameside moved

Using some steel bar I salvaged from Malvern Link when I helped augment them from 8 to 10 in 1993, we made a frame to support the 7th bell on four M16 lengths of studding.

 By tightening the nuts, this lifted the bell about ½", allowing the bell bolts to be cut off using an angle grinder.

 And here is the result, the headstock ready for its trip to Matthew Higby's workshop. The bell is sitting on the framework very steadily, and will not require any more support.

 We also managed to undo the last of the long bolts holding the 1911 frame side to the rest of the frame, allowing this to be lifted out of the way of the trap door.

After a bit of a tidy up, the planks we need to lift are at the bottom of this picture looking down on the SE corner of the tower. These planks will have to be replaced as they are rotten.

 

A recap

This is the layout of the diagonal frame with Matthew Higby's alterations for adding the two new bells.

 A really neat and clever solution which has just minimal alterations to the 1911 frame extension in the SE corner (removing the frame ends) and none to the historic frame which was originally a medieval high sided frame.

The new steelwork (in light blue) simply consists of two gallows ends and a single short beam for the treble which will have a short stay and pendulum slider as there is no space for a normal length stay.

The 1911 extension was built over the trap door and has to be moved out of the way in order to get the three Rudhall bells (4th, 5th and 6th) out for tuning.

The ropes will be drawn across using pulleys in the room under the frame to get a good rope circle.

The opportunity is also being taken to treat all the existing headstocks, protecting them against further corrosion, and to refurbish the bearings. This will be done in Matthew's workshop.

The bearings are leaking oil down the frame as you can see on the left of this photo. This will be scraped off as it is not doing the ancient timbers any good.

We aren't removing the headstocks off the Rudhall bells as this can be done in Matthew's workshop. We do have to get the other 3 headstocks off the 1911 bells though. One (the 3rd) is already off, and now that the tenor is lifted up and is sitting on the frame, the bell bolts can be cut off. The 7th bell will be suspended on a steel grillage which will take its weight so that the bell bolts can be cut off.

All this will keep us busy for quite a while, but the result will be well worth the effort in that we will have a beautiful modern sounding and easy to ring octave.

All the bells lifted, except one

We have lifted all but one of the bells onto the frame now. The three old Rudhall bells are now ready to be removed for tuning, once the 1911 frame has been moved out of the way.

The tenor (on the right) will stay in the tower, and now that it is sitting on the frame will be separated from its headstock.

The one bell which hasn't been lifted is the 7th which will remain in position, but will be supported by a steel framework allowing the headstock to be removed.

The bolts for both the 7th and tenor are corroded so much that it is impossible to remove them without cutting them off. New ones will be fitted when the refurbished headstocks are returned.

Two bells lifted

Using the new beams, we lifted the 5th and 6th (of 8) bells up tonight and placed them on planks ready to be lowered down the tower.

These two, and the 4th, are to go away for tuning by Matthew Higby & Co.

The 5th headstock was painted blue a few years ago as a trial, but is now showing signs of corrosion again.

All the old headstocks are going away for proper anti-corrosion treatment, these three are being kept bolted to the bells as they will be removed at the workshop. The 3rd headstock has already gone, and the bell itself is now tucked away in a corner of the tower out of the way.

Once the 7th and 8th bells have been lifted, their headstocks will be removed too, but like the 3rd, these two bells are not leaving the tower.

Progress has also been made on dismantling the 1911 section of the bellframe which is covering up the trap door we need to use to get the three Rudhall bells out and back in again.