Great Urswick Bells Project

Aim

Great Urswick Church bells project to cast 2 new bells & preserve a historic bell for the heritage and social benefit of the community

Great Urswick has a ring of 6 church bells, including one of the oldest in the UK dating back to the 15th Century dedicated to Sir William Harrington, flagbearer at the battle of Agincourt! 

The late Tom Metcalfe (tower captain at the time) planned to improve the bells to make them easier to ring and sound better together. 

The 5th bell is the Harrington bell, and this has an elongated profile typical of early bells which makes it slow to swing and difficult to accurately ring. This project will preserve this historic bell by moving it and rehanging it for chiming by the clergy. This will allow the bell to continue to be heard as part of Urswick Church, and potentially accessible to interested parties by arrangement.    

The 4th bell is a bell cast by Abraham I Rudhall in 1711, but has a slightly different tonal quality and is too thin in places to tune further without risking damaging it beyond repair. This project has found a new home for this bell through the Keltek Trust.

The project will cast 2 new bells to take the place of the 4 and 5 in the ring of 6. One bell has already been cast at John Taylor's Bell Foundry in Loughborough on 18th December 2025. A date for the casting of the new 4th bell has yet to be confirmed.

The project has been supported generously by the Lancashire Association of Change Ringers,  John Taylor's Bell Foundry and a number of other benefactors. Further grants are being sought and this crowdfunding page offers individuals the opportunity to contribute to the completion of this project. It is estimated that about £4,500 remains to be raised to cover the remaining cost of the core project, including labour costs from John Taylors Bell Foundry staff involvement in the physical work rehanging the bells.

Any surplus funds after new grants, crowdfunding, or cost reduction through volunteer labour would be used for the essential replacement of the tired bell ropes; future bell maintenance; and further used to help recruit and train new ringers, and possibly publish leaflets to educate and promote bell ringing at Urswick. 

Once the project has completed there will be community engagement to find out more about their bells and bell ringing, and encourage people of all ages from 12 to pensioners, families together, and friends to try bellringing and learn the skill involved. This is a social and team activity which keeps the mind sharp and offers a gentle or moderate physical workout. It is a very affordable and inclusive pastime where we welcome people of all ethnic backgrounds, gender/identity, any faith (or none), and is a fantastic way to make new friends. The only people who it may not be suitable for are those with significant physical and accessibility difficulties who are unable to climb stairs or do not have the coordination to ring safely, but we will always do our best to find a way if it is possible. 

This project has so much to offer the community for generations to come, just like the Harrington bell which has been here for centuries.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 17th July 2026 at 2:10pm