The Story of the Bell

In the church tower at the level of the large round top windows was the church bell. It was cast in 1887, by a bell foundry in Glasgow, Scotland. The company still exists, however under a different name. I checked their records and found that the bell was a B flat, weighting in at over 2000 pounds (with the wheel, yoke and clapper). It was a gift from the owner of the Kildonan Estate, William Weir. The present estate house can seen from the church. This was a very large bell for a small rural church. The lower floors of the bell tower had rotted and collapsed long before I purchased the building. I had to erect a scaffold inside the tower to reach the level of the bell. This floor was covered in bird poop and had a foot of old nesting material under the bell. The bell was supported by 2 six inch cast iron beams under the wooden bell cradle. These beams were rusted thru with only about 1" of metal remaining. This could have collapsed at anytime. I had to have a steel beam made in 2 parts that could be bolted together in place, above the bell. The beam spanned across the width of the tower and was set in recesses, each side of the tower. A rented electric 2 ton hoist was hung from this beam. The electric hoist was so heavy, I had to use a manual chain hoist to lift the electric hoist into place. With all this in place, the bell was lifted 1 inch to allow all supports to be removed from beneath the bell. The bell was then lowered onto a steel trolley, and rolled to the front door. I hired a tractor with a front loader to reach in thru the door opening and lift out the bell. I cleaned and painted the cast iron yoke, wheel and clapper. The bell itself is cast in bronze and I have left it as is.The bell removal was the most dangerous operation of the church conversion.