Priest shins 35ft to fix bell rope

10:33am Wednesday 12th September 2007

Comments (2)   Have your say »

A PARISH priest used his experience as a former tree surgeon after his church's bell rope broke.

The Rev Fionn McKinty shinned his way some 35ft up the churchwarden's ladder into the bell tower above.

He then called upon all of his tree surgery skills from his previous career to carefully replace the rope.

A proud usher at the ceremony - at All Saints' Church in Easton, Portland - was enjoying his honour of ringing the bell for the bride's arrival when the rope broke.

The bride and groom saw the funny side of the mishap, which was caused by the rope rubbing against a broken spindle above.

Mr McKinty and churchwarden Jim Smith and his son James fixed the rope some days later.

They managed to fix the spindle and replace the rope.

The trio of DIY experts also managed to save All Saints' Church from shelling out on a costly repair operation.

Mr McKinty said: "Now we are just looking for a sally to attach to the pulling point of the rope which, just like the former monkey's first knot, will prevent rope burns on the ringer's hands."

The bell is now fully repaired and ready to ring out again at wedding ceremonies and all church services.

All Saints' Church, which was dedicated in 1917, was originally supposed to have a full ring of bells.

But flaws were found in the rock where the bell tower was built - and quarrymen at the time warned anything more than one bell would bring the entire structure crashing down. The original bell rope took the strain until 1970, when it was replaced with a rope acquired from Portland Naval Base.