HISTORIC CHURCH BELL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17175, 27 October 1926, Page 4

HISTORIC CHURCH BELL

RUSSELL TQ OTAIIUHU. REASON FOR THE TRANSFER, TJie missing link in the history of the hell that has been doing duty in the tower of the Otahubw Anglican Church, and bearing an inscriptioni that shows it to have bean cast for the old church at Russell in 1840, is now available. It is supplied by Colonel George Barclay, of Auckland, ancr is baaed on information given to him by the late Mr. .J. C Martin. Some months before Mr. Martin's death Colonel Barclay was in RuKsell, and Mr. Martin informed him that he had been engaged upon an investigation of the historic old church of the township, but had found himself unable to ascertain the fate of its original bell. According to the old records of the church, Mr. Martin found that the bell was damaged in the sTxties by being struck with a stono while vibrating. Bishop Selwyn took charge of it and sent it to England to be repaired and retailed. That it was returned to Auckland city was known, but from what point all trace 'of it coased. The supposition entertained at Russell was that the bishop had handed it to one of the missionary churches in South Auckland, which had! a large place in his affections. It is now evident that he gave it to Otabuhu. Knowledge of the fact, however, seems to have passed out of the memory of living men. It av;is revived when one of the students of the Auckland School of Architecture, Mr. A. C Marshall, in pursuance of Professor Knight's scheme of taking measurements and collecting the history of old buildings in the Auckland district, discovered the inscription upon the hell at Otahuhu a short time ago.