While many people will have visited St Luke's Church and walked around the perimeter of the exterior and the main body of the Church, at the rear of the Church stood the font, and behind that, access to the base of the tower.
This door is rarely open and is more of a 'storage' area today. However, when the Church was in full use, this was for the Choir Vestry - but access to the stone staircase was also accessed at this point. Today, a heavy metal door guards the entrance.







​We must not get ahead of ourselves, because above the ceiling of the Church Vestry was a sort of 'damping chamber'. Originally this was where the organ was situated but after the organ was moved, this was a very small windowless room that sat below the ringing chamber. Access was via the vestibule door, a stone staircase in to the upper floor of the vestible. One of the windows that fitted the alcove was rescued from a skip in the 1960's!
Returning to the stone spiral staircase at the base of the tower, one must climb 48 stairs to gain access to the ringing chamber. However, as this can be seen in the images below, the ringing chamber is no longer there after the blitz. The entrance to the ringing chamber can still be seen high up in the tower, but there is now a sheer drop and thankfully is fenced off for anyone confused enough to attempt 'access'!




In the ringing chamber, this is a spacious and lofty apartment (as it was), brilliantly lighted by four large windows, which can be seen outside, just beneath the dials of the clock. In this chamber, the bellringers assemble when their services are required, each one standing by a rope which descends to the floor from the ceiling above. An apparatus used in 'chiming' the bells is also contained in this room.
​On the walls of the chamber used by the bellringers, four boards (pre-blitz) are affixed recording special performances at different dates. The first took place in 1850, during the incumbency of the Rev C W Lawrence, when eight ringers, under the conductorship of John Heron, sn., excecuted a 'series of Grandsire Triples involving 5,040 'changes' in two hours and fifty minutes.'






From the bellringers' chamber we ascend by 43 steps to the clock room, where the stone staircase terminates. This apartment is much smaller than the one beneath and is dimly lighted, so that on first entering it, there is difficultly in finding one's way (pre-war) between the numerous ropes and beams which traverse it in various directions. On one side of the room (pre-war), enclosed in a wooden casing, and close to the outer wall, is placed the internal machinery of the clock, and the solemn, measured 'tick tock' of the pendulum falls impressively upon the ear, as it marks with undeviating punctuality the ceaseless flight of time.
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The present clock mechanism that we see today came from the clock tower of the Hydraulic Pumping Station at Toxteth Dock in the Dingle, two miles south of the city centre. It was made by Joseph Penlington of Liverpool in 1887 and converted to electric drive in 1985. The dials are post war replacements made of fibreglass. ​ The original clock movement was made in 1835 by Condliff, of this city, for Robert Roskell & Son, whose names, graven on brass, are affixed to the works (pre-war). "The pendulum is 15 feet in length. There are two weights, the 'striking' which is 31/2 cwt., and the 'going' which is 1 3/4 cwt., and they have a drop of 50 feet going down to the chamber behind the gallery (pre-war). The bell on which the clock strikes, which is the large tenor is 3 feet 9 inches across. The four dials which are seen outside the tower, are cut out of solid stone, and measure 6 feet in diameter. (Pre war), the minute hand is 3ft long and the hour hand is 2 feet 3 inches. The clock is wound weekly (pre-war) and requires 120 turns of the key for the 'striking' part of the mechanism and 40 for the 'going'.












When the top of the clock room ladder is gained, we are on a level with the bells. (pre war). These are eight in number, and were hung in 1828, in an iron frame by Gillebrand, of this city and were rung for the first time on St George's Day, April 23rd. They are in the key of F and were cast by William Dobson in 1818, of the full history we will come to later on. From the bells to the summit of the tower, another ladder extends (pre-war), which is 43 feet. One side of is protected by the wall of the tower, along which it lies, but on the other side is a yawning gulf, unpleasant to contemplate, so that a cool head and a steady hand are required to reach the top. The prospect from this elevation is very extensive when the weather is good. (Pre-war), the flagpole which rises from the summit of the tower, stands 40 feet high and the ensign which is occasionally hoisted upon it, is 15 feet in length. ​​
My good friend Bryan J McCahey wrote a book called 'Peace and Good Neighbourhood' in 1995, printed by Auroel Press. This is a first edition hardbacked book and you can actually feel the raised print on the pages from the Slugset Hot Metal Typesetting. It is truely a fantastic book and there are some copies still remaining. I will update this page at the bottom once I can find out how many copies are left and their prices. It is truely a rare book!
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Bryan is also a fellow bellringer, and set out to find out as much about the bells as possible. In the 50 page booklet, he goes indepth on the full history of the bells, their original history and how they came to St Luke's. Bryan has given me permission to record some of the information below on a brief write up on the history of the bells and I am very grateful to him and the Merseyside Bell Restoration Group for this information.


Thomas Osborn was foreman for Joseph Eayre at the bellfoundry in St Neots and when Eayre died in 1772 his successor, Edward Arnold, appears to have taken Osborn into partnership.
In about 1779 Osborn started casting bells on his own account at his home town, Downham Market in Norfolk. At some time in the 1790s Osborn's grandson William Dobson joined him in the foundry. His name first appears on the ring of five bells cast for Crimplesham, Norfolk, in 1798. Dobson's name does not appear again on bells until 1803.
From then until 1806 the joint names of Osborn and Dobson occur on bells cast at the Downham foundry. In 1806 Dobson succeeded his grandfather in the foundry, an advertisement to that. effect appearing in the Bury and Norwich Post of Wednesday 18th June 1806. Osborn died on 6th December 1806. Another advertisement by Dobson appeared in the Bury and Norwich Post in July 1807. This lists "peals" of bells cast at the Downham foundry since 1779. Dobson states that the last 15 “peals” were cast under his own immediate direction. The earliest of these rings of bells was a ring of six cast for Walsoken, Norfolk in 1795 opened on 27 January 1796. However at that time Dobson was about 16 or so – he died on 11 July 1842 “in the 63rd year of his age. Thus while this claim is possible it seems rather more likely that Dobson was exaggerating for the purpose of drumming up business. In 1808 Dobson cast a 29 cwt ring of eight bells for St John’s Peterborough. His greatest ring however was the 41 cwt ring of twelve bells for St Nicholas Liverpool in 1812/13 to replace the bells broken in the fall of the steeple on Sunday 11 February 1810 just before morning service. Dobson’s bells were opened on 4 June 1814 and on that occasion a silver cup valued at 20 guineas was presented by the churchwardens for the best performance while Dobson gave a set of handbells for the second best performance.
The tenor bell at Liverpool was not Dobson’s largest bell. The Norfolk Chronicle and Norwich Gazette for Saturday 15 November 1817 contains a report of the casting of five clock bells for the General Post Office in Dublin the largest of which weighed 43 cwt. Clearly Dobson had a good reputation which was probably due to the good tonal qualities of his bells which was well above average for the period. There is evidence that thought was given to bell design in a manuscript dated 20 December 1800. This is now among the records of the Whitechapel bell Foundry. Rings of bells cast by Dobson were supplied to most English counties and even as far afield as the West Indies. He clearly had a good reputation and he was well aware of the value of publicity. In 1819 he cast seven bells to add to the old tenor at Birstall, Yorkshire and the advertisement for the opening on 18 August in the Leeds Mercury included an up-dated list of rings of bells cast at the Downham foundry.
In 1832 Dobson sold the Downham foundry to the London founder Thomas Mears and he worked in a solicitor’s office in London. He eventually became a brother of Charterhouse where he died in 1842.
Liverpool Corporation was in need of a peal of bells for their 'show piece' Church and purchased the bells in a sale at a later date. It was fortunate for them that the inscriptions on the bells were not centered towards Newton Heath. Their inscription reads:
Treble - PEACE AND GOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD
Second - THE LORD TO PRAISE MY VOICE I'LL RAISE
Third - WILLIAM DOBSON FECIT 1818
Fourth - O GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HE IS GRACIOUS
Fifth - FEAR GOD HONOUR THE KING
Sixth - WILLIAM DOBSON DOWNHAM MARKET NORFOLK FOUNDER 1818
Seventh - THESE EIGHT BELLS WERE CAST BY WILLIAM DOBSON ANNO DOMINI 1818
Tenor - I DO THE CHURCH THE LIVING CALL AND TO THE GRAVE DO SUMMON ALL. W. DOBSON FECIT 1818
The following agreement was then drawn up in 1817: 'the said Willm. Dobson..shall and will on or before the 30th day of Aug next cast manufacture and provide for the said Church of Newton a new Peal of 8 musical Bells which shall weight in the aggregate 66 hundredweight and a half of which the tenor bell shall weight fifteen hundred weight. And shall and will convey the same carriage free and hang the same in the Tower of the st. Church of Newton with new Stocks and with 8 new wheels 8 new sets of bolts spikes and other iron work and with proper 'Brafes Gudgeons Clappers screws Rollers Stays & Ropes'.
The following year, the bells were cast and together with the components of a two-tier wooden bell frame, were brought to Newton Heath by canal. However, they were not hung in the tower due to instability concerns of the tower and were then returned to the Huddersfield Canal Warehouse in Piccadilly, Manchester. Nothing was further done and the Newton Health trustees eventually accepted that their Church tower was not suitable for the bells. They then placed the following advertisement in Wheeler' Manchester Chronicle.
TO BUILDERS OF CHURCHES - TO be SOLD by AUCTION by private contract: A PEAL OF EIGHT NEW MUSICAL BELLS. Cast by the celebrated Mr Dobson, of Downham of the following weights: (C. Q. lb.)
Treble - 5 - 1 - 15, Second - 5 - 2 - 23, Third - 5 - 2 - 27, Forth - 6 - 0 - 27, Fifth - 6 - 3 - 19, Sixth - 9 - 1 - 10, Seventh - 11- 0 - 6, Tenor - 16 - 2 - 16 cwt
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These were purchased for the Corporation with the specific intention that they would be hung in St Luke's Tower. It was alwas intended that this church would always be the Corporation 'show-piece' and it was even to be considered a candidate for the Cathedral Church by the new Liverpool Diocese!
In 1828, a local bellhanger, George Gillebrand, was employed to hang the bells in St Luke's on a cast iron frame. Gillebrand is listed as Millwright and a steeple bell hanger and by 1828, he had moved to 47 Trowbridge Street in Liverpool.
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Sometime during 1828 and 1829, the bells were installed in St Lule's belfry on the massive cast iron frame which still survives to this day (2025!). Bearing the inscription 'GEORGE GILLEBRAND BELL HANGER 1828', it is believed to have been the first cast iron bell frame ever manufactured and still to this day and nearing its 200th anniversary, the world's first all metal bell frame is still in situ in this tower.
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George Gillebrand must have considered all options with this bell frame. He made very effective use of the limited space in the tower. The frame virtually fills the 15ft square bell chamber and was originally mounted on three sets of transverse wooden beams which were located in cast iron pockets in the walls. These beams were destroyed during the fire which followed the 1941 May Blitz, but the frame itself has survived.
Its top is level with the louvre cills so that the bells would have swung immediately behind the openings. The castings are all 37 1/2 inches high and are massive in scale. By far the most remarkable feature, however, is the four main E/W members which were cast as single sections completely spanning the tower. The transverse castings were designed to slot into sockets in the main sections and the entire installation is bolted together at the top and bottom of each intesection.
Four of the transverse castings are of X pattern, but those in the outer ends of the pits are the two largest bells are in the shape of an inverted horse-shoe - designed to allow maximum clearance for the clappers. The pit of the sixth bell was ast with a curved depression at the north end to give clearance for the clapper, and the pulleys and sliders were probably mounted on the floor instead of on the frame as would have been more usual.
​Writing about St Luke's bells on the 3rd June 1941, The Liverpool Daily Post also makes the claim that 'their peals have bene heard on the radio by millions of BBC listeners". It has not been ascertained how regularly St Luke's bells were broadcast. The Liverpool BBC studio 6LV, was merely a relay station for programmes originating in London and transmitted its own output only one day a week. It has begun broadcasting in 1924 and was the first radio station in Britain to broadcast a religious service from a Church. It is thought that this historial broadcast took place from St Luke's and the recording of the bells may have been made on the same occasion that this service was recorded.


Ringing appears to have taken place throughout various times, but there were also times like many other Church towers were they were not rung. Various reasons possibly from a Tower Captain stepping down, or the band disbanding, or even the bells themselves needing attention and not getting an immediate resolution.
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Ronald Edwards, a ringer from the Wirral, took great interest in St Luke's bells and undertook a considerable amount of work to put them in order again. They were rung to celebrate their 100th 'anniversary' on St George's Day in 1929 and there was also a peal rung on the 19th October 1931.
The very last time the bells were fully rung is not known. Mr William R Birchall, a ringer from Huyton remembers ringing them when the Liverpool Branch held their meeting in February 1938. After this time, more work needed to be done and letters were sent off to the foundary (Taylors) who offered a free inspection of the bells and submit a report and estimate for work. No further steps were taken and the bells were declared unringable after this time. For the brief remainder of their lives, they were probably only chimed for occasional services and were never to be rung full circle again.