Blessing of the Bells and New Displays
The Friends are thrilled to announce that after over 80 years of wandering, Old St Paul’s original tenor bronze bell is now back in the Church and on display in the belfry porch. Everyone visiting Old St Paul’s can now get up close and discover its fascinating story.
Returning the bell to Old St Paul’s has been a long-term mission for the Friends, for some three decades. We first funded its restoration in the 1990s. Now we are providing the funding for its new installation and exhibition in the Church. We welcome your donations in support of this project.
Sent away for repairs in 1940, the tenor bell embarked on a long and diverse journey. For some years it served for as the school bell for Kurunui College in the Wairarapa. Back in Wellington, it became the church bell at St Barnabus, Khandallah, where its easy accessibility made it irresistible to passing locals. Eventually damaged beyond repair the bell was threatened with burial as a judder bar in the church drive.
Luckily, Terry Barrett, former Old St Paul’s staff member and bell ringer, and Friends’ Jane Aim and Janet Raphael were on its case. The all-important clue was the bell’s special inscription from Psalm 51, verse 14, My tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
The Friends’ rescue mission was soon underway, and the bell was sent to the expert care of former National Museum conservator, Jack Fry. But after several years of restoration, the bell’s wanderings continued. For over a decade, it was on display in Wellington’s City and Sea Museum. When the museum itself closed for restoration, the old bell again went into storage, before it finally returned to its original home in November 2023. It was lovely to discover one of the young men who helped remove the bell from St Barnabus, helped return it to Old St Pauls three decades later.
The Old St Paul’s tenor bell is the only surviving one of a set of three that were installed in the church in 1887. Hailed as a ‘great improvement’ from the original single bell that called people to church, each bell was inscribed with a different verse from the Psalms. (The others carried P12 v 4 and P55 v 17).
As all the Old St Paul’s bells had been removed, back in 1979 the Friends originally raised funds to return a set of five bells to the belfry, which the Wellington Bell Ringers, led by Derek Williams, ring on special occasions.
It is a bit hard at present, but when you are next in the church look up into the belfry and you might see the five new bells hiding above the dusty Perspex. And now when you enter the church, you will be welcomed in by the sound of those bells, magically rung by invisible Wellington Bellringers!
