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When Miles calls me to say, "Want to see something cool? Come to my shop.", I do. I knew he was removing the bell tower from a meeting house in a nearby town today but I didn't know it was coming home with him. When I arrived the bell was on the ground and the belfry was being rigged with picks at the roof peak and one side to lift and rotate it from the flatbed onto a temporary wood sill frame. The unit was set on blocks briefly to remove the wall sling and flown the rest of the way to the sill, where the post tenons were wrestled into mating mortises and bracing inserted and screwed onto the frame. Miles took a ride up in a sling on the secondary line to disconnect the shackle from the main pick. Communication with the crane operator and crew member was aided by in-helmet audio gear.
The beech posts are necked down and partially rotted at the roofline, so at least one of them will be replaced and the rest repaired with dutchmen or spline tenons, plus a new roof and trim repair/replacement. There's some on-site structural repair as well.
The building was erected in 1847, but the bell is dated 1882. It was not uncommon to get the shelter up and save for a bell to come later. The bell platform was framed on top of the original roof's wood shingles, and the belfry posts landed on beams resting on the roof truss chords.
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Originally Posted by Jamie Buxton
