Calstock Bell Ringers
Bell Restoration Project
Background
The six bells at Calstock were cast nearly 250 years ago and we are keen to ensure they are fit to ring for as long again.
In recent years the bells have become difficult to handle, heavy going and very often "going up wrong". Inspections carried out early in 2018 revealed that the various parts of the bells just didn't fit together properly - the clapper and bell geometry was not correct and the headstocks were simply too big and too heavy for the bells. There were other issues too - the bearings had deteriorated, the wheels were shedding their shrouds, the bell frame was rusting - the list went on and on.
Short term improvements were achieved by changing worn pulleys, repositioning pulley boxes and replacing the unwieldy tenor clapper with a specially designed lightweight wood shafted clapper. However, in the long term the only sensible solution was to take the bells out of the tower, fit new bearings, headstocks, clappers, crownstaples, gudgeon pins and all wooden fittings and then rehang them. While the bells were out of the tower we would be able to clean and paint the bell frame.
