Church of St. Saviour-on-the-Cliff, Shanklin - The Tower and Bells

The Tower and Bells

In 1883 the Vicar, the Revd Charles I Burland, announced that it was proposed to complete St Saviours by the addition of "a heaven-pointing Tower with its suitable furniture of pealing bells" By early 1887 the tower and spire were completed and the peal of eight bells was installed the following year. The bells were manufactured by Mears and Stainbank of Whitechapel of London. Their total weight is some 75 cwt, with the Tenor alone weighing 18 cwt. Sadly the initial optimism which greeted this project has not been sustained. By 1900 the tower and spire were shrouded in scaffolding to enable repairs to take place. The bells were hung too high and this along with the unsteady structure, led to the bells being chimed rather than rung from 1925 to 1985. In 1985 the pinnacles were removed at the junction of the tower, and following a structural report that the tower was indeed safe, much hard work started clearing sixty years of debris. By the 1980s the bells were in a very sorry state. They had hung still in a salt laden air for a century. No less than 56 bags of pigeon guano were removed from the tower and it was obvious that if the bells were to have a long term future, a lot of hard work would have to be done. After 8 years of tireless fundraising, the bells were taken out of the tower to be restored with brand new headstocks, stays, wheels, clappers, pulleys and ball but hung in original frame.