UK Registered Charity Number: 1154107

Conservation by Re-use

Helping churches acquire surplus and/or redundant bells to be hung for

English-style full-circle bell-ringing.



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Bottom left: Purbrook church. Top left: Buscot’s original bell-frame.

Right: the ex-Purbrook frame being re-assembled in a nearby farm building.

Bottom right: The ex-Purbrook and ex-Woolverton bells awaiting installation at Buscot.

Buscot, Oxfordshire, St Mary


Numerous bell-restoration projects have been undertaken within the Oxford diocese over the past few years. Many have a high degree of self-help; the scheme at St Mary’s is typical. Tony Crabtree, the instigator of the project has been the driving force behind several restorations in the Vale of the White Horse.  The long unringable minor-three hang in a part medieval timber frame. The picture above shows the frame, 2nd (left) and tenor bell (right). Details of the “Old” ring are:

Treble   WILLIAM & ROBERT COR 1708 weight 5cwt approx.

Second BRISTOL FOUNDRY C14  weight 6.5cwt approx.

Tenor    EDWARD NEALE, BURFORD 1661 weight 8.5cwt approx.


With help from the Keltek Trust, St Mary’s installed the pre-1999 four-bell frame and single bell (left) from St John the Baptist, Purbrook (below left). Purbrook’s old frame & bell had to be removed as part of their Ringing in the Millennium scheme to install a light ring of six bells.

The ex-Purbrook frame and bell were installed below Buscot’s three-bell frame. The existing treble & second are now the second and third of the new ring; the ex-Purbrook bell is the tenor and the new treble is the ex-Woolverton, Somerset tenor bell previously acquired from the Trust. The Edward Neale tenor bell remains in the old frame. The bells were dedicated on Saturday 25th March 2000.

The details of the new ring at Buscot are:

Treble   THOS. GEFFREY 1485-1540 weight 3-3-8

(ex-Woolverton, Somerset)

Second WILLIAM & ROBERT COR 1708 weight 5cwt approx.

Third BRISTOL FOUNDRY C14  weight 6.5cwt approx.

Tenor    MEARS & STAINBANK 1892 weight 7-2-3, Note: Ab

(ex-Purbrook, Hampshire)