The Swansong of the Steel Bells of Moseley St Mary, Birmingham

(To begin with, I have no idea why the camera has included a magical rainbow of colours across the picture!)
The small tower of St Marys, Moseley is the only suriving part of the medieval church, which was rebuilt on a much more massive scale in the late 19th century by the local architect Chatwin (who is also responsible for the majority of St Martins in the Bullring church).
There were three bells in this tower until 1874. A local man acquired a set of 8 steel bells, and the three bells were transferred to the nearby new church of St Annes.
The steel bells were not rung full circle for the majority of the 20th century. In 1990, voluntary work began on restoring the derelict installation to some sort of ringability, using second hand and reused fittings in places. This restoration was achieved and they were rung for the first time in 82 years on Easter Sunday 1991.
A new local band was formed to ring them, and the band thrived despite the difficulty of the bells. However, everyone acknowledged that the difficulty and poor tone of the bells meant that their long term existence was not ideal.
The idea of replacing them brewed for a time, before a fundraising campaign was launched to raise £140,000 for a completely new installation.
And here we are today-
The work to remove the bells and frame completely from the tower will finish next week (mid January 2012) and the new installation will be finished later this year.
The back three of the new 18cwt ten are at present in the church - they are the back three of a redundant Gillett and Johnston chime from Greenock in Scotland. 7 lighter bells will be cast by Taylors, to the same profile, to create the ten.
The steel bells are destined for the Swan Bell Tower in Perth, Western Australia, where there is a growing clock and bell collection.
I am sad to see the last of an unusual and interesting bell installation, but in the long run their continued use was not conduicive to a fruitful local ringing culture.

[@irkibby]

@arnoldusglocke There are now 17 sets of steel bells hung for full circle ringing. Only 8 of them are working. There are other chiming bells which are steel in other churches.

[@irkibby]

@timmeh1507 No, they are distinctive, and the neighbours can look forward to listening to an excellent peal of bells. One must remember that the restoration to ringability of these steel bells was the genesis of a local band, the eventual creation of a ring of six at St Annes, and finally the plan for replacement and improvement into what will no doubt become an even more proactive centre of ringing within Birmingham.

[@irkibby]

@8spliced I will miss them.

[@ProfMoose]

They should be restored to ringing condition (somewhere a long way from any habitation) as a warning to others not to experiment with steel bells.

[@CammyTheCamera]

I’m gonna miss these bells

[@lunaticonthegrass111]

@simonbellringer Thanks for the explanation!

[@kennedibodally8486]

these bells send shiver's down my spine

[@irkibby]

@simonbellringer It is the 7th... it makes an impressive noise.

[@RingerJamie]

Where’s the 8th

[@titmouse-distribution]

It Is In The Tower, But It's Currently Unringable.

[@AshleyMonck]

@@RingerJamie in a back garden in Somerset with the other 7. All 8 bells just sitting there rusting away

[@franmcghee4919]

I think the bells made out of bronze, copper and tin sound a bit better. And you can here on one of the bells the clapper bouncing of the bell a bit so it makes the bell sound twice in a row.

[@benjaminvallejo6695]

i think you already know but the bells are gonna get new fittings and a attempt at tuning some of the bells but they sound just fine like this because of historical reasons and hung somewhere else

[@arnoldusglocke]

Excellent video, strange music... They don't sound better than Upper Bavarian steel bells from the 1940ies. But I didn't know about their existence in England, it's surprising. Are there even more? Thanks a lot!

[@abbeymaddox3114]

i love the sound of them lol creepy & awesome at the same time lol +1 like

[@Bellringercameron]

Bouncy clapper on the treble

[@irkibby]

@mittagsglocke Haha, my camera is getting old. It must be because of this.

[@awesome1334]

3:28 the stay of the top bell

[@toastedbutter4316]

@irkibby I ring at the bellower in Perth what do u mean about the steel bells being destined for the tower cuase i haven't seen anything

[@irkibby]

@elafonisi08 They make Grimsby sound good, don't they?

[@nord1486]

Yes, but these people can actually ring

[@fartwell2000]

You can't have heard the steel back six at Hale, Cheshire or the six at Ingleton, North Yorkshire. Not all steel bells are bad.

[@jasonvenner5027]

That was a bit dangerous at 5.49 when the camera was close to the bell when it was swinging someone could of got hurt

[@irkibby]

I was stood in a safe place and I'm still here...

[@SantaRudolph-ef6lv]

One thing I don’t get is why did the old steel bells have two trebles that sound the same it just doesn’t seem right.

[@irkibby]

@@SantaRudolph-ef6lv because the notes changed when the bells rusted

[@SantaRudolph-ef6lv]

@@irkibby ok.

[@SantaRudolph-ef6lv]

@@irkibby well I’m starting to learn to ring at a church called St. George’s in Hyde greater Manchester.

[@drkasafir]

I live in Moseley village and those bells are still ringing to this very day, they still sound awful.

[@c-pla5-g251]

agree.

[@Ringer_Fran]

No they don't, they're new and sound fabulous.

[@lunaticonthegrass111]

Why are they ringing the back (or front) seven?

[@RiccardoRivi]

there are some problems with colours atthe begining of the video

[@tuatara77]

yes, he mentioned that in the first lines of the description.

[@jondoes8222]

Sounds to me like they were not properly tuned. I hope they were not destroyed. There are churches who need a lone bell for call to church. I hope they donated them and not scrapped them. I have a 33 inch steel bell that has a beautiful ring to it. It was cast by Goulds MFG in the 1800s in Senneca Falls New York USA. Im sure they will be replaced with bronze ones but wow what a cost.

[@irkibby]

they were tuned properly. The problem with steel bells is that over time they rusted, and because that rusting changed the thickness of the bells the tuning went bad.

[@jondoes8222]

ok I see. bronze is the best

[@dwigley1977]

No they have not been destroyed, they live on in the back garden of a ringer who lives in Somerset! One idea is to build an East Burgholt type 'shed' over a pit and then with the ringers in the pit and the bells over head.

[@dwigley1977]

No they have not been destroyed, they live on in the back garden of a ringer who lives in Somerset! One idea is to build an East Burgholt type 'shed' over a pit and then with the ringers in the pit and the bells over head.

[@annapowell6641]

+Ron Delby i quiet like them they sound pritty ok dispite them out of tune they sould like drums

[@8spliced]

These will not be missed!!! lol

[@watchdog8967]

how did the tenor fall to the ground?

[@chillinbro5423]

the gudgeon broke on it

[@timmeh1507]

Shouldn't 'bells' be in inverted commas? I should imagine the neighbours will be relieved.

[@simonbellringer]

@lunaticonthegrass111 It is the front 7. The tenor has been unringable since about 2008 (I think!!) as it jumped off its gudgeons during ringing and has been lying on the floor of its pit ever since!! Thats about as unringable as you can get!!! Watch from about 1:50 onwards!!

[@simonbellringer]

They actually sounded OK when you were in the belfry!! But which is the one at about 3:05 becuase it sounds abismal on its own!!!

[@ameliaviolet8691]

why did the church replace this steal ring ? i so love them but they are odd

[@ProfMoose]

I haven't. I would like too. Unfortunately I suspect only the worst examples find their way on to youtube.

[@jesusemilianorodriguezrome7459]

What kind of church is this?

[@irkibby]

Church of England

[@mittagsglocke]

Why are the colours in the picture??

[@pretorium]

Undesirable...... unsatisfactory - I could use other words...definitely not Ho Ho Ho.... more like No No Nooooooooo!!

[@ninasewell6850]

they sound terrible

[@sydneycoper2630]

Ew the sound is horrible! don't like them no wonder they were replaced.