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Kelham
St Wilfrid

Bells

In 1740 the church was recorded as having four bells.

The bells in 2014

Robert Lee's inscription on the bell frame

There are currently six bells in the tower; however, until 2015 there were only three. Bells 4-6 were  mounted in the oak frame, made in 1891 by Robert Lee, an Averham carpenter who undertook a number of local rehangings.

Bells 4-6 were rehung, with wooden headstocks and plain bearings, in 1891. By early in the 21st century the bell fittings were nearing the end of their lives and as a result the bells became unsafe to ring.

In January 2015, the three bells were lowered from the tower by volunteers and taken to the Loughborough bellfoundry of John Taylor & Co, where they were gently sandblasted (to remove guano) and fitted to metal headstocks. The frame was strengthened by the insertion of vertical tie rods, which were then bolted into new steel foundation beams beneath the bell chamber floor. The bell chamber floor was repaired, and replacement louvres installed with weatherproof mesh. The clock chamber floor was renewed, the former clock weight chute removed, and rope guides introduced in the ground floor ringing room to improve the handling of the bells.

The bells in 2016

The bells were rehung in the frame and provided with new fittings in October 2015. A 19th century bell from the closed church of St Barnabas, New Humberstone, Leicester was installed at the same time (initially as the treble of 4 but now the third of 6).

In 2019, primarily due to generous funding by the Keltek Trust, the frame was extended using timber saved from the former bell frame at neighbouring Averham (also by Robert Lee). The Trust also donated two bells, a treble from the closed church of St Simon & St Jude, Great Lever, Bolton and a second displaced, by a newly cast bell, from the church of St John, Taynton, Oxfordshire. The work was undertaken by TLB Services (now known as Blyth & Co Ltd).