Renovation works for historic Grade II listed church's bells

The eight bells at St Luke’s Church in Blakenhall – which is now closed for worship – were originally cast and hung in 1897.

Listed building consent for the church, in Moor Street South, to temporarily remove the bells from the tower to refurbish the fittings and rehang them with new ball bearing-based gudgeons, was granted this week.

The work will involve raising each individual bell out of its position and then lowering them through trapdoors in the belfry and ringing chamber floors, before they can be transported to the bell foundry. Each single bell was cast by James Barwell of Birmingham.

A heritage statement on behalf of Simon Linford of Magic Unicorn Limited, who made the planning application for the work, said: “The bells are listed in Dove’s Guide to the Church Bells of Britain, maintained by the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers, which is the definitive database for information.

“Barwell was not a particularly renowned maker of bells and only a small number made by the company still exist. There is a complete ring of eight bells by the company at St Michael’s in Boldmere, Sutton Coldfield, which were cast in 1906 and are considered to be tonally superior to the ring tone of the Blakenhall bells.

“The bell installation is slightly unusual in that the cast iron frame is bolted onto a timber subframe, which in turn then sits on steel cross beams. It is not intended to change the frame however.

“The bells are accessed via an entrance external to the main church building. Stairs inside the tower lead to the ringing chamber. From there a vertical ladder leads to an intermediary chamber and then a further ladder goes into the belfry. In order to get onto the bell frame you pass through the pit of the fourth bell which is extremely unsatisfactory.

“Even before St Luke’s church closed for worship the bells were seldom rung on account of their difficulty. The bells retain their ‘plain’ rather than ball bearings, which means far greater effort is required to ring them. Fewer than one per cent of rings of bells now retain old plain bearings, given replacing them is a relatively minor operation, improving the ringability of bells and reducing the need for oiling.

“Plain bearings need to be oiled virtually every time the bells are rung. This requires someone to go into the belfry and climb across the frame to get to each gudgeon’s block. Access to the bells is quite dangerous and should be minimised,” added the statement.

“Putting the bells on modern ball bearings will reduce the need to go into the belfry for an annual maintenance inspection by an experienced bellhanger. Access to the bells will remain unchanged. No changes will be visible. All gudgeons will be replaced with ball bearings to improve the ringability of the bells. The frame will be scraped of existing paint, primed and repainted to protect it from the elements. The ceiling to the ground floor room will be replaced after the bells have been returned.”

The Grade II listed church closed for worship in 2017 and more recently has been used as an antiques shop.