New home at last!

Well it's finally at its new home. Not quite as intended but it is up and it rings. I hired a diamond core drill to cut a 50mm hole in the 8 inch brick wall for the bell arm. I had intended to use all the old bolts but decided the top one was enough and fixed the remaining three parts of the frame with large screws. Recoated the frame with black metal paint but left the bell as it was, polished up with some autosol. Inside the garage it looks a bit crude. It can stay like that until I summon up the effort to paint the wooden block that acts a a large washer to secure the very long bolt which holds up the frame.
It seems a long time since I first spotted the bell. After the demolition of the building there have been a lot of enquiries about what happened to the bell. I may write a letter to my local newspaper to tell anyone interested where they can see the restored bell. But that can wait. The lawn needs mowing, and after all there are more things in life than bells. Aren't there?

The photos complete the tale of my bellquest - it was fun.

Blasted

I found a local blast cleaner. All parts back to bare metal. The bell itself has come up quite well. A good rub with fine wire wool and autosol and it begins to look like what is is - an old bronze bell. Now to recoating the frame beginning with a special primer. The only mark on the bell apart from '10' on the crown is shown in the photo. No idea what it signifies - yet.

Last rites

Walking past the old school today, this was all that remained. This was the day when I finally discovered the key dates during the life of the building:

1911 Official opening of the Lymington County Primary School in Cannon Street

1972 Closure of the school after relocation to a new school in Avenue Road, Lymington.

!972 - 1990 Building used as the area Education office by Hampshire County Council.

1994 - 2003 Area Library Headquarters

2003 - 2007 Meetings and library store followed by demolition in March/April.

Too late!

The old school is still in the news! The Lymington Times report this week a last ditch attempt to stop the demolition by a legal challenge by protestors. Sadly for them their action was too late.

Restoration

Some people have strong views about restoration of old items. I guess I do about really valuable items, particularly if you wish to retain or enhance its value. As far as I am concerned I make the rules based on an assessment of the advice available and my own common sense. My first priority was to have a good look at the bell. As far as I can see it is in quite good condition. A bit of rust around the frame but the bell itself looks fine. It looks as though the bell was at some time coated with a black paint. I thought it was just grime but it simply does not come off. So my approach will be to remove all dirt, rust and old paint and then re coat the lot. So after a quick clean with a power washer I had to see if I could shift all those old nuts and bolts. With just a little help from WD40 and a couple of spanners, off they all came. But After a few careful attempts I could not remove the bell from its steel bar headstock. So now here are the parts awaiting my next move which is to remove all rust and old paint. But how?

It's official!

At last the bell is officially mine. Here I am picking it up from the TAB site managers' office. After 120 years the bell is on its way to a new home in Sway where it can be seen awaiting some tender loving care.