Centuries-old bells removed from Rochdale Parish Church

Date published: 20 December 2023

After nearly three centuries of ringing over Rochdale, the bells at Rochdale Parish Church have been removed, ahead of the installation of a ‘new’ ring of 10 bells.

The eight St Chad’s bells – the oldest of which date back to 1752 – were removed at the start of December and will be replaced by eight bells donated from the Manchester Diocese and two new ones.

There have been bells at Rochdale Parish Church since the tower was first built in the 1500s: at that time, there were ‘fyve grete bells’.

These were replaced in 1752 by a ring of six bells, cast by Abel Rudhall of Gloucester. Two additional bells were added in 1787 and the tenor bell was recast in 1812 to form the outgoing peal of bells.

They will now be replaced by eight bells that previously rang out over Oldham at St Mark’s Parish Church in Glodwick. They were cast by Mears and Stainbank at the famous Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1937.

The peal of bells was lowered from the bell tower into the church through two trap doors in the bell tower and ringing room floors.

The heaviest bell, the tenor, weighing about three-quarters of a ton took over five minutes to be lowered. 

As they were lowered each bell was rung for a final time in the church before being displayed outside the church for a short time. They were then loaded onto a lorry to be transported to the bellhangers in Newark.

Tower captain Debra Holmes described the final ringing as “quite poignant.”

She added: “These bells will now be hung in various churches around the country to make new rings of bells.

“In the meantime, work is underway on the new peal of 10 bells that will be installed at the Parish Church next spring during the 830th anniversary of the Rochdale Parish Church.”

The eight St Chad’s bells – the oldest of which date back to 1752 – were removed at the start of December ahead of 10 new ones being installed next year