Fitting the new frames

Our bells used to be supported on a timber framework but for our new installation we decided to use cast iron frames on a steel grid. The photograph shows the blue-painted frames bolted to the shiny galvanized steelwork. Our aim was to set the bells up for the next hundred years so the galvanizing will protect the steel against rust. The cast iron is less of a problem so that just has a good coat of paint.

The steelwork is a few inches above the original floor of the bell chamber and is taking all the weight of the bells. This has reduced the stress on the old timber beams. They were nearing the end of their working life as the main supports but now that they're only carrying their own weight they're no longer a worry.

Whites had gone through a trial assembly of the frames and bells at their workshops so the parts arrived at St Laurence with all the holes drilled in all the right places and all the bolts and brackets that we were going to need. We did have a couple of places where bolts had to be loosened so that parts could be wriggled and levered into place but nothing that held up our progress. In one day we lifted and fitted all the frames and all the bells and by the end of Monday we had all eight bells swinging in their bearings.

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