Details revealed for operation to remove bells from Hartlepool church using 60ft crane

Each bell will be individually lowered by crane from the 60-foot high belfry tower of Hartlepool’s All Saints Church, Stranton, in a precise and carefully-controlled exercise which could take up to four hours with nearby roads closed.

A number of people including local schoolchildren are expected to gather to watch the “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity on Thursday, July 14, from around 10am.

The peal of bells has been out of tune since 1907 when three existing bells, one of which dates from 1599, were retuned and five more added.

Andrew Frost, project manager and part of the Hartlepool Guild of bellringers, said: “They have rung out every week, marking significant milestones, life events and occasions for the people of Hartlepool over the centuries.”

But they have become increasingly difficult to ring in recent years, and surveys have shown they will soon become unringable if they are not refurbished and retuned.

The removal of church bells is typically done by lowering them through a trap door.

But as one was never installed in the tower of All Saints Church, they will be lifted out through the west facing window which was recently taken out by a stonemason.

They will then be transported to John Taylor & Co bell foundry in Loughborough where they will be refurbished to their past glory.

The bells are due to be reinstated in October and will remain in place for at least 100 years and continue to be rung and heard by the town and many future generations.