Medieval church bell replaced after 900 years

A church bell dating from 1150 and thought to be the oldest in Norfolk is being replaced by a new one.

The new bell for St Mary's Church in Heacham, one of only three Coronation bells in the country, was blessed by the Bishop of King's Lynn at a special ceremony.

Planning and fundraising for the £46,000 project started 10 years ago and included replacing the cupola on top of the bell tower in oak.

The new bell has been inscribed with the words "Heacham Commemorates the Coronation of King Charles III".

The vicar of Heacham, the Reverend Veronica Wilson said the existing bell was the oldest in the county but "is not able to be rung anymore, it hasn't been rung for about 40 years".

"We had hoped to repair it, but that's not possible," she said.

The church, in a village that is near the royal residence of Sandringham, was offered a bell to celebrate the new King's Coronation last year.

"We think it's important because it [the bell] marks the high days and holidays in this community," she said.

"It lets our village know the church is here. It calls people to worship and it reminds us that God is present in this community.

"So we're really looking forward to be able to ring it again to call people to worship on a Sunday and also for funerals and weddings and other services."

The vicar arrived at the church 10 years ago as it started fundraising, so she said seeing the project come to fruition was "just fabulous".

Bell engineer Neil Thomas will install the new one in the tower's belfry.

He explained that in the Middle Ages his predecessors "used a system of reducing pulleys, so there was miles and miles of rope".

"It's much like sailing is - you increase the number of wheels with the rope and the bell just weighs less to them. It takes time, but it gets up there," he said.

The new bell was made in Italy due to the "quality of the castings".

Local school children took part in the blessing ceremony which saw the lowering of the old bell and the arrival of the new one.

Evie said the event was exciting, adding that her father used to take her "most weekends" to look at the old bell.

"I used to watch it rust over the years," she said.

Ash said it was "really cool" to watch the old bell being removed.

Ruby added it was "fun to watch the old bell coming down. It's amazing because I've never seen anything like this before".

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