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The Parish Church of St. Helen 10 bells Tenor: 16 cwt. 0 qr. 0 lb. in F A ring of eight bells was cast by Lester & Pack of Whitechapel, London, in 1764.
Four of these survived.
In 1885 Mears and Stainbank augmented the bells to ten with two trebles,
recasting the original fifth, ninth and tenor at the same time.
The bells were rehung in 1961 by F. White of Appleton.
The seventh was recast in 1970 by the Whitechapel Bellfoundry.
The bells were hung in a two-tier timber frame, the 2nd and 3rd being above the remaining eight.
The 9th and Tenor were attached to hollow-section cast iron headstocks and all the remainder had timber stocks.
All swung on ball bearings.
The tenor weighed 20 cwt. 1 qr. 6 lb, with note Eb.
(Although a tonal analysis suggested E as the actual tenor note.) After nearly two hundred and fifty years, the old wooden frame had decayed, ringing the bells became harder and the frame needed to be replaced. The bells and frame were removed from the tower in January 2006. A major restoration project installed a new cast iron frame and a properly tuned ring of ten new bells, with completion in July 2006. Bell weights and inscriptions A sound clip of the new ten bells The church is by the River Thames at the junction of West St Helen Street,
East St Helen Street and St Helen's Wharf. |
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Photograph by Martin Crick