CONSERVATIONISTS have less than three weeks to save an ancient bell donated to St Thomas’s Church in Stockton Heath by Warrington industrialist John Crosfield in memory of his wife.
The one ton 134-year-old tolling bell, has been valued at £10,660 including VAT and will be melted down if Warrington Civic Society can not find funds to preserve it and keep it in the town.
It has not seen active service for decades and was donated to the church by John Crosfield in 1880 in memory of his first wife Eliza, who sadly died when she was only 37 and after bearing him five sons and four daughters. She died in 1882.
The bell is now the property of specialist contractors John Taylor & Co from Loughborough – the same company who installed it.
The value of the bell was included in the costs of removing it and ongoing works on the bell tower which is set to provide a new lease of life for eight ringing bells which have been removed from a church at Bollington near Macclesfield, where St Thomas’s vicar Rev Michael Ridley was a former curate.
The Civic Society has been approached by a local businessman willing to contribute towards keeping this unique piece of heritage in the town but require more funds to cover the full cost.
It is hoped that the bell can be found a new home at Walton Lea, where the Crosfield family used to live.
Any one interested helping with a donation to save the bell should contact Civic Society Chairman John Shipley by email at [email protected] or by calling 07954 521 972.
