Historic church bells need £60,000 for repairs

Most of the bells were last recast and rehung in 1908

People in a Devon parish are hoping to repair their local church's bells which have been ringing since the 16th Century.

The bells at St Werburgh's Church in Wembury have serious faults, including in the bearings and the frame which holds them in the church tower.

A fundraiser for £60,000 has been launched to repair them.

More than half the target has been raised so far by parishioners who are campaigning to get the bells ringing again next summer.

The church tower, overlooking Wembury Bay, has six bells, the newest of which was added as a memorial to World War Two in 1949.

The remaining bells were last recast and rehung in 1908, said bell ringer Sue Deacon.

"They've been here since 1552 and the village would be very sad without them," she said.

"I think people do depend on them."

Parishioners said they were hoping that they could be removed and taken to a foundry in January, where repairs would take at least three months.

They hoped to get them reinstated by May or June next year, they added.