Author: So-Shan

The renovation works on our bells and bell frame are complete and we are home! 13 ringers came out to test out the bells to check for snagging, but everything has been completed to a high standard and everything is in order.

Reverend Joe Moffatt popped up the tower and opened the ringing with a prayer to our renovated bells and to the bell ringers.

Some nerdy stats: 9 litres of undercoat was used (3 1/2 x 2 1/2 litre cans) and 17.5 litres of Nicholson grey topcoat was used (3 1/2 x 5 litre cans). Chris from Nicholson said that the grey gives it a brightness and opens up the pit (for when we are scrabbling underneath the bells to put muffles on).

It’s good to be back!

Look on Instagram for the videos of the ringing.

Changing the clock is a manual process in the tower! None of this automatic digital malarkey! It’s a real skill, heritage and tradition!

Thank you Mike for teaching and to Kate C, Paul C and Charlotte for learning and the pics and report.

Kingston’s clappers being worked on at Nicholson’s. Photos by Henry Grice via Thomas on a visit to the workshop.

Progress report and photos from Kate C:

Report, 25 March: Tomorrow Martin and Chris from Nicholson will open up the traps to raise the wheels and the headstock for the 11th into the bell chamber when all the painting is finished. Only the 11th bell cage, all the headstocks and top of the frame are left to go for applying a final top coat tonight. Martin was trying not to paint himself into a corner!

On Monday 30th, they’ll be back with the new tenor stay, all the clappers and remaining fittings to put the bells back together onto the frame for ringing.

The bell ringers will be back ringing on Easter Sunday.

Photos from Pip, Thursday 26 March:

Martin and Chris are doing a great job. It all looks so spic and span. They got 9 bags of rubbish from the ringing chamber!

The frames are now being painted. You can see the undercoat is grey and the final colour for the frame will be the lighter gloss coat.

Nicholson are now due back w/c 23 March to reassemble and finish the painting.

We can’t keep away from our bells or clappers! Adrian was in Dorset so decided to pop by Nicholson’s to check on our clappers and head stock!

Report from Paul, 14 March 2026: “Martin from Nicholson has been working solidly in the tower for the last nine days. He thought the bell chamber was in generally good condition and spent four days grinding old paint of the frame (see the wire brush!), cleaning all the dust from under the carpets and the carpets themselves. Martin has removed nine bags of rubbish, mostly dust, paint flakes, rust, bricks and bits of wood and old wiring and general detritus!   The bell chamber and ringing chamber are quite clean and I am impressed with the work done to date. The final article will look wonderful!

He has spent several days applying a zinc-based primer paint to the frame and headstocks. The wheels will get a coat of lignum-based preservative, apparently bat friendly. (I pointed out the only bat we’ve got is Bob). The final frame coat will be a lighter grey gloss paint. The new chiming hammers will get a coat of paint too. We need to have a competition to guess how many litres of paint they will finally use!   

The clappers, bearings, 11^th headstock, tenor stay and two slider bars are in Bridport for refurbishment/replacement/painting as required. 

Martin and Chris will be back w/c 23 March to do the final painting and reassembly and also fix the twiddle pin on the 9th. They expect to be there all that week with a couple of days contingency w/c 30 March, so we should be on for our spring clean on Saturday 4 April and first ring on Easter Sunday.  The bells are likely to be louder and possibly a little brighter until the clappers new strike points bed in.”

  

Week two: photos from Martin at Nicholson – cleaning up completed and now preparation for painting of the frame begins.

Before pics …

After the cleaning … ready for the painting!

Progress report – week 1, from Tower Captain, Paul:

“Pip and I met the bellhangers Chris and Martin Tuesday evening (24/02/26) and got a grandstand tour of the 11th headstock and the clappers being lowered to the ground whilst the trapdoors were open.

The ringing room trap door was then replaced and we were allowed to go and look at the ringing chamber and go up to the bells, provided we stayed on the mezzanine. 

They have made astonishing progress in two days – most of the bells are jacked up on blocks, all the clappers are out, ropes and wheels off the bells. Work still to do this week: take the bearings off the headstocks and take all the equipment to Bridport.   

Things that have come up include – the tenor stay has a crack and will need replacing, one of the slider boards (where the slider runs when it engages with the stay) is badly worn and also needs replacing. The tenor clapper has sheared one or two bolts and these will all be replaced with larger gauge nuts and bolts. The frame is in reasonably good condition but will benefit enormously from a good clean down, application of undercoats and final coat of grey paint. Martin will be back next week to start the preparation for painting the frame.”

Photos from Pip:

Photos from Paul:

Maintenance work on Kingston bells

The renovation and maintenance work on Kingston’s bells will take place 23 February-27 March. The last major work was done in 1972 when the anti-clockwise ring of 10 bells were rehung and increased to the 12 glorious bells we have today. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there was considerable rivalry between towers, and the fact that Kingston had a ring of 10 bells by the mid eighteenth century suggests that the town and parish church had considerable importance.

Kingston bells were all cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and range in age from 1826 to 1972, so this year we are celebrating the 200th anniversary of two of our oldest bells (bell 8 and 9 – my favourite bell).

We now need to carry out some essential maintenance work to ensure the bells and fittings are fit for the next 50 years. This will be carried out by Nicholson Engineering, our preferred bell maintenance company. The work being carried out includes:

• Replacement of ‘gudgeons’ (bearing supports) on the bell 11

• Replacement of ball bearings (which the bells swing on) on all 12 bells

• Refurbishment of all 12 clappers (these hang inside the bell and strike it)

• Repainting the bell frame and fittings. 

During the 5-6 weeks of silence, our ringers will be visiting other towers, including St Mary’s Hampton and All Hallows Twickenham.

The bellringers are grateful for all the help they have received in raising the funds for cost of the project. Join us for a special service of rededication on Sunday 19 April, 9:30am. The bellringers are baking for the occasion! 

Paul Flavell
Tower Captain