THE belfry at Brinkworth, near Royal Wootton Bassett, is empty for the first time in more than 350 years after the bells were taken away yesterday for restoration.

Parishioners are currently raising £60,000 to pay for the project, which also means the tower clock will no longer have to be wound by hand.

In a delicate operation the peal of six was lowered to the ground and carefully loaded onto a lorry bound for a firm of experts in Loughborough.

It was then that they discovered a pin holding one of the bells into the bearing had sheared and only a short stub was left. 

The bells have been silent since summer last year when they were rung for a wedding. Tower captain John Tuck explained they had become increasingly difficult to ring because the ball bearings on their frame were breaking up.

“There were originally five bells in the tower, which were all one casting from 1663,” he said. “They would have been hanging in a wooden frame.”

In 1903 they were put into an iron frame.

“As far as I can understand, somehow the bell hangers suspended the bells up there while they constructed the frame around them. There is no record of them being lowered to the floor.”

A sixth bell was added at some point in the 1920s.

All the bells were on plain bearings which needed regular lubrication. But in 1973 ball bearings were put in place and it was these that were failing.

“There are various other problems with the bells so it has been decided to do a complete overhaul,” said Mr Tuck.

Some time ago it was discovered that the crowns of two of them needed to be repaired by welding.

He added: “The Brinkworth bells have always been considered by other ringers as rather difficult. This, hopefully, will make them much easier to ring.”

Lowering the bells was tricky. The only possible route was between the beams underneath the clock which had to be moved.

It was installed for Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee in 1897 and has been hand wound ever since. But the church is taking advantage of the renovation project to have it converted to electricity.

The work will be done when the bells are re-installed. That is expected to happen in May next year.

“We are looking forward to it, this is a dream,” he said.

Once the bells were back in their rightful place the team, which also covers nearby Dauntsey, would be recruiting new ringers.

“They are a fine-sounding ring. Because they are large it is a rather slower, more stately sound that they produce.

“The remarkable thing about them is that 350 years ago there wasn’t the technology we have today but they are pretty well in tune and because they are such important, historic bells we are not allowed to tune them.”

Rector Stephen Wilkinson turned out with a group of volunteers to help with yesterday’s loading.