St. Mary the Virgin, Eastham

Work done on the Tenor Bell

When this bell was dismantled it was found that the two main bearings were two different sizes although the gudgeons on the headstocks were the same size. On contacting Messrs. Taylor, they could offer no explanation despite the fact that the bearings are theirs and that they re-hung the bells on these bearings in 1922. As the bearing raceways were grooved it was decided to renew the pedestals as well so new units complete were purchased.

I will now have to digress into a little of the theory of bellhanging before I continue.

The ground pulley in its box, secured to the bell frame, serves to reverse the direction of travel of the rope round the rim to give two distinctive movements of the rope seen in the Ringing Chamber. When a rope falls in a straight line downwards from the rim of the wheel, the top of the ground pulley should be 4" below the level of the bottom of the wheel. However, should the rope be drawn under the wheel for any reason e.g. to clear a beam or make a better rope circle in the Ringing Chamber, then this dimension has to be increased by an amount equal to half of the draw. Now your Tenor rope is drawn 16", so the ground pulley has to be lowered by 8" which gives a total distance of 12". This was, in fact, only 10". As the original pulley box was already sitting on top of the rope chute into the Ringing Chamber through the latter's ceiling, there was no alternative but to raise the bell, complete, to correct the error. As the new bearing pedestals were a little wider than the originals, the bell had to be moved sideways anyway. This was accomplished by inserting two ash blocks under the bearing pedestals and fitting new, longer bolts to pass through the pedestal feet, blocks and frame heads and all pulled up solid. Should you require a clearer explanation on site, I will be pleased to give it.