The Swansong of the Steel Bells of Moseley St Mary, Birmingham

(To begin with, I have no idea why the camera has included a magical rainbow of colours across the picture!)

The small tower of St Marys, Moseley is the only suriving part of the medieval church, which was rebuilt on a much more massive scale in the late 19th century by the local architect Chatwin (who is also responsible for the majority of St Martins in the Bullring church).

There were three bells in this tower until 1874. A local man acquired a set of 8 steel bells, and the three bells were transferred to the nearby new church of St Annes.

The steel bells were not rung full circle for the majority of the 20th century. In 1990, voluntary work began on restoring the derelict installation to some sort of ringability, using second hand and reused fittings in places. This restoration was achieved and they were rung for the first time in 82 years on Easter Sunday 1991.

A new local band was formed to ring them, and the band thrived despite the difficulty of the bells. However, everyone acknowledged that the difficulty and poor tone of the bells meant that their long term existence was not ideal.

The idea of replacing them brewed for a time, before a fundraising campaign was launched to raise £140,000 for a completely new installation.

And here we are today-

The work to remove the bells and frame completely from the tower will finish next week (mid January 2012) and the new installation will be finished later this year.

The back three of the new 18cwt ten are at present in the church - they are the back three of a redundant Gillett and Johnston chime from Greenock in Scotland. 7 lighter bells will be cast by Taylors, to the same profile, to create the ten.

The steel bells are destined for the Swan Bell Tower in Perth, Western Australia, where there is a growing clock and bell collection.

I am sad to see the last of an unusual and interesting bell installation, but in the long run their continued use was not conduicive to a fruitful local ringing culture.

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[arnoldusglocke]

Excellent video, strange music... They don't sound better than Upper Bavarian steel bells from the 1940ies. But I didn't know about their existence in England, it's surprising. Are there even more? Thanks a lot!

[irkibby]

@arnoldusglocke There are now 17 sets of steel bells hung for full circle ringing. Only 8 of them are working. There are other chiming bells which are steel in other churches.

[simonbellringer]

They actually sounded OK when you were in the belfry!! But which is the one at about 3:05 becuase it sounds abismal on its own!!!

[irkibby]

@simonbellringer It is the 7th... it makes an impressive noise.

[timmeh1507]

Shouldn't 'bells' be in inverted commas? I should imagine the neighbours will be relieved.

[irkibby]

@timmeh1507 No, they are distinctive, and the neighbours can look forward to listening to an excellent peal of bells.

One must remember that the restoration to ringability of these steel bells was the genesis of a local band, the eventual creation of a ring of six at St Annes, and finally the plan for replacement and improvement into what will no doubt become an even more proactive centre of ringing within Birmingham.

[irkibby]

@elafonisi08 They make Grimsby sound good, don't they?

[lunaticonthegrass111]

@simonbellringer Thanks for the explanation!

[simonbellringer]

@lunaticonthegrass111 It is the front 7. The tenor has been unringable since about 2008 (I think!!) as it jumped off its gudgeons during ringing and has been lying on the floor of its pit ever since!! Thats about as unringable as you can get!!! Watch from about 1:50 onwards!!

[lunaticonthegrass111]

Why are they ringing the back (or front) seven?

[edgraineog]

@irkibby I'm glad they're going to a museum - it would have been a pity to just scrap them.

[simonbellringer]

@irkibby Impressively bad, lol!! Go to Chalford, they are miles ahead of these!!