THE oldest bell in the Town Church was removed for the first time in almost 270 years yesterday. Up until last November, the clock bell would chime on the quarter, but this had to be stopped when rot in its support frame caused it to tilt.

The bronze bell, weighing about 0.6 tonne, will be cleaned and its support frame repaired before it is restored to its former glory.

A crane belonging to Keith Mourant lowered the bell the 30 metres from a cupola adjoining the spire to the safety of Church Square in a delicate operation overseen by project architect Andrew Dyke.

‘It’s very involved work because it’s a very historic structure and we have to make sure that we preserve as much of it as possible,’ he said.

The work drew the attention of many onlookers and Church Square was closed.

Substantial repair work will soon commence on the spire. Mr Dyke said it had been decided to deal with the clock bell problem earlier, following an inspection with structural engineer Andrew Ashman.

‘We found that it had become structurally unsafe as one of the oak beams that supports the bell inside the tower had rotted and the bell had actually dropped in its frame,’ said Mr Dyke.

A scaffold was erected around the cupola, which can be seen from the lower end of Market Square.

Mr Dyke said death-watch beetle had caused the rot problem in a relatively small section of an oak beam and the bulk of the original support frame would be put back.

‘We want to put things back as untouched as possible,’ he said.

Brocard, of Lorraine, France, cast the nine bells that are housed in the Town Church in 1736. In 1994, eight of them were recast with additional metal added to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Liberation and they chimed again for the first time on 9 May the following year.

The clock bell was never recast and Mr Dyke said an inscription around its middle, hidden under years of dirt, was an exciting find.

Once the bell was safely on the ground in Church Square, contractor J. W. Rihoy and Son encountered problems in separating it from its oak support beam. Staff at Channel Welders agreed to visit the site to cut part of the metal bracket to enable the separation.

The bell was washed to remove part of a thick layer of guano that had built up over many years, before being moved into the Town Church, where it will be stored temporarily.

Mr Dyke said a more concentrated cleaning operation would then be undertaken, which would require the removal of lime scale, while at the same time not damaging the bronze.

Efforts to remove the bell earlier in the week were postponed due to strong winds and Mr Dyke said it was often difficult to predict the time needed when working with old buildings.

‘When one is dealing with historic property, particularly when parts are sealed or hidden, one has to be careful not to underestimate the length of time that may be needed to carry the work out.’