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.
The Story of the Bell
Arnsheen
Wow. What an achievement Rod! Glad you got it out OK. :-)
Could you send us a recording of the bell ringing? That was a huge undertaking.