When St Barnabas Church in Warrington did some maintenance work in their bell tower, they discovered what undisturbed birds are capable of.......

Ray Prince, the Bishop's Warden, writes:

After the service on Sunday 11 April, Jeremy, our Priest in Charge, mentioned that Basil the bellringer (!!!) was being covered with sisal from the bell rope when he rang it each Sunday.

Having taken a quick look at it I could see that a new rope was needed. How to fix it was another matter!  

Before opening the trap door I had prepared with dust sheets and plastic . 

What came down from the tower was a bit of a shock. Approximately 5 large wheel barrow loads of birds nest and 20 Kg of dust. I estimate it was probably 15 years since the trap door had been opened. 

I commandeered Rob Booth and we were able to remove all this without too much hassle on 13 and 14 April. We then had to build a scaffold inside the bell tower to reach the bell itself . 

Replacement of the new bell rope was onto a beautifully constructed wheel which was possibly made from Elm ( from UK ). The date on the bell was 1872 and the rope was hemp and had lasted since then presumably . 

I ‘m not sure if the modern rope I’ve replaced it with will last as long...