Bells of Chorley Parish Church

The 1996 Recasting

Over the next 40 years various minor repairs were carried out, untill in 1995 two further reports were commissioned. These concluded:

"Tonally ... they are disappointing. The Tenor is quite good, the 6th 5th and 4th are fair, the three smaller bells become progressively 'wild' towards the treble end, and the 7th is conspicuously poor.:

"... the bells are very harsh and discordant with the tonal quality of the peal being far below the standard which one would expect for a Parish Church setting."

The smaller bells in particular were described as "hard, harsh and stifled." Nor did the tuning of the bells match up exactly with the founder's specifications. The frame and fittings were, however, found to be in generally good order and, with some repair and cleaning, were reused in the 1996 refit.

Happily, on this occasion, thanks to the generosity of Kathleen Norris, the resources were available to undertake the recasting of all eight bells.

The Parish Church Council approved the project as desirable in itself and as a fitting memorial to Mrs. Norris The Diocesan Advisory Committee also gave its approval and the Rector and Wardens petitioned for a faculty which was granted by the Worshipful John Bullimore, Chancellor of the Diocese of Blackburn on 13th February 1996.

The work was awarded to John Taylor Bellfounders, with whom the Parish had dealt for over half a century, the quote price being £37,475.00

Taylor's Bellhangers came to Chorley at the beginning of May to dismantle the bells and their fittings and to lower them down the tower. The old bells were loaded on to a lorry on 3rd May and transported to :Loughborough. Once at the foundry they were broken up and the metal melted down. The molten metal was assayed, and extra metal added to being the proportions up to the correct levels. The metal was then cast into ingots to wait the recasting.

Over the preceding weeks the moulds had been prepared and buried in the foundry sand pit. The actual casting took place on Friday 17th May 1996. A coach load of parishioners travelled  down to Loughborough to watch the dramatic process.

Once cooled, the bells were transferred to the tuning shop and tuned as an octave on a 19th century vertical lathe. Towards the end of this process a second coach load of parishioners visited the foundry on Saturday 22nd June, and thus were the first to hear the sound of the recast bells.

The bells were returned to Chorley on Friday 30th August and placed in the body of the Church for their consecration by the Bishop of Blackburn in the context of the Parish Eucharist on Sunday 8th September.