EIGHT new bells have been cast for North Curry’s St Peter and St Paul’s church and seven of them, the first in the country, also feature the new royal cypher of King Charles III.

The eighth bell retains the cypher of Elizabeth II, as a reminder that two of the previous bells from the church were also cast in a coronation year, 1953.

The new bells are the culmination of a three-year campaign to restore bell-ringing in North Curry.

The 200-year-old wooden frame that supported the bells in the church tower was declared unsafe.

The ringing was curtailed in 2020 and halted altogether in 2021.
The village rallied around and raised over £150,000 to instal a new, more durable steel frame and to replace all the bells, which had also been showing their age.

Somerset County Gazette: Molten metal for North Curry’s new church bells is poured into a mould Molten metal for North Curry’s new church bells is poured into a mould (Image: Loughborough Bell Foundry (John Taylor & Co))

The old bells, some of which dated back to 1811, were melted down in the Loughborough Bell Foundry, the last of its kind in the country, and the metal was used in casting the new bells.

They will be lighter – about three tons in total, instead of four – which means they will be easier to ring for older and younger ringers.

The bells will sound the same as before, but sweeter. Unlike the old ones, they will be in tune with one another.

The new installation is expected to last for at least 200 years. Work has already started to fit the frame into the tower, and the church plans to join the nationwide ringing to celebrate the coronation on 6 May.

Background Bells have been rung in North Curry church since at least the reign of Henry VIII in the 16th century.

The set that has just been replaced comprised four from 1811, which had probably themselves been recast from earlier bells; two from 1894; and two from 1953, also recastings.

Residents of North Curry visited the Loughborough Bell Foundry to see the new bells being cast.

Parts of the process have not changed since the Middle ages: the moulds are buried in the ground, to help the metal cool evenly; and the molten metal is stirred with a willow pole which releases salicylic acid to drive unwanted gases from the mix.

21st-century technology is brought in to check that the metal contains the ideal proportion of copper and tin, and to tune the bells.

Different parts of the bell sound differently, so bells are tuned at five places along the length of the curve.

This is what gives bells their characteristic resonance. The shape, or ‘profile’, of a bell, affects the sound it makes; the North Curry bells are made to a Gillett & Johnston profile that is considered by experts to produce a particularly sweet sound.

Somerset County Gazette:

Six of the North Curry bells have been sponsored, either by families or organisations (north Curry Parish Council and the Parochial Church Council).

Sponsors have been able to choose a dedication that is cast into the bell.

The church is also very grateful to charitable trusts that have given grants: Bath & Wells Diocesan Association of Change Ringers, £20,000 Garfield Weston Foundation, £10,000 Somerset Churches Trust, £1,000 John & Diana Kemp-Welch Charitable Trust, £1,000 The Sharpe Trust, £500.