BOW BELLS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21646, 17 May 1932, Page 8

BOW BELLS

CHURCH IN NEED OF REPAIR,

(From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, March 23.

Some interesting facts were revealed concerning the old church of St. Mary-le-Bow when permission to repair it was sought by the Church Committee at a consistory court held in St. Paul's Cathedral.

Mr J. B. Blagden, for the committee, reminded those present l that the building was one of the Wren churches. The remarkable tower and steeple, fronting on Chcapside, were one of the city’s archi tcctnral features, but last summer it was realised that the structure had become positively dangerous. That morning, said Mr Blagden, he had had an opportunity of seeing some fragments of stone work, which last year were kept up by sheer “ force of Providence.” One heavy fragment at the top of the tower was so loose that it could be picked out. Referring to the bells, Mr Blagden said it was necessary for them to be cleaned by sand-blasting, and some required recasting. Originally the bells were cast at a Whitechapel foundry, but a condition of the gift from an American donor for their restoration was that this work should be executed by a Croydon firm. One of the panels of a doorway was damaged during the Gordon riots, when the Old Bailey prison was burnt down, and marks of musket shot could still be seen. LONDON AIR PURER. Giving evidence, Sir Louis Newton, chairman of the Appeal Committee of the church, said that the whole scheme of restoration was estimated to cost from £12,000 to £13,000. The amount received from the appeal so far, with the exception of the gift for the bells, was £5727. Mr E. S. Un'dcrwood, architect and surveyor to the church, said one of the bells, known through a nursey rhyme ns the ” Big 801 l of BOw,” was the only bell left of the original peal. It was cast in 1738. Asked if the stone chosen for the repairs would stand up to the atmosphere, Mr Underwood said that London’s air was becoming purer every year.