By Elizabeth Hunter & Mark Stevens
Church bells, ruled too delicate for bell-ringers, are pealing again after 50 years – thanks to electric hammers and a touch screen.
Traditional bellringing at St Sampson’s Church has been replaced by machines, which make them peal with the push of a button.
The bell tower in South Hill near Callington in Cornwall had all of its 17th-century bells removed over safety fears.
It then took years to raise the money to restore them.
The five bells were assessed to be too delicate to be rung using the conventional rope-and-clapper method.
Instead, each bell has had an electromagnetic hammer installed inside.
The bells can now make series of pre-programmed peels suitable for all church occasions like weddings, services and funerals.
Wardens say a full restoration would have cost close to $200,000 but volunteers fundraised $30,000 to bring back the bells with the new method.
The bells, four of which date back to 1698 and one to 1831, chime when a button on a touch screen on the wall is pushed.
Churchwarden Judith Ayres said: “It was just amazing to see them come back on the lorry, see them hoisted back in the tower, and hear them again for the first time in 50 years – it was something very special.
“They were taken down because they were unsafe – before they fell down basically.
We’ve had the bells restored and hung back up.
“They’re now electronic static chimed, not full circle swung, because the bells are listed – they can’t be retuned because they’re too thin and they would break, and they can’t be sold.
“We did wonder when they were taken down if we’d ever raise enough to get them back again, but we did. We were very pleased to get them back.”
Two professionals from Taylors Bellfoundry were assisted by a team of local volunteers during the week-long process of putting the bells back up.
They can now be programmed in advance for Sunday services, weddings and funerals.
Judith added: “We had different people on different days helping, which was great.
“The community involvement has been huge and really supportive.
“We’re all thrilled to have the bells back whether we go to church or not.”
The Southville Parish contains around 500 houses, and the local community worked tirelessly to raise the money needed – not just to restore the bells, but to continue a large-scale restoration project in the church as a whole.
Judith said the support from the community has been “amazing,” and also expressed thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, who also awarded a grant to the church.
She said: “Everybody really got behind it.
“A bell ringers walking group was set up, and they visited every church in the vicinity and did walks around them.
“The final bit of the jigsaw came with the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which is also to go towards roofs and ceilings.
For congregation member and unofficial church historian Miranda Lawrance-Owen, hearing them again was an emotional moment.
“It was so exciting. It was wonderful and made me want to cry,” she said.
