Residents in a tiny Shropshire village are one step closer to hearing their church bells ring out again after more than half a century of silence.

An operation was taking place today to move six huge bells from St Gregory the Great’s Church in Morville, near Much Wenlock, on to a lorry so they can be restored.

A bell hanger from Nicholson Engineering Ltd in Bridport, Dorset visited the site on Monday to oversee the operation to take down the ancient bells.

The bells were cast in 1759 at Gloucester. And Ian Rowe, secretary of the Morville Bell Group, said the £90,000 project to restore the peal of bells in the town was initiated a few years ago.

He said: “Local residents have not been able to hear the bells since the 1950s because the frame in the bell tower was deemed unsafe.

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“1954 was the last time that they were properly rung for a service. All we have been able to do since then is chime them a little.”

The six bells originally replaced four medieval bells which dated back to the 14th century, added Mr Rowe.

He said the operation to move the bells went smoothly “after we sorted out the fact that the lorry was too big to come into the churchyard”.

“So we got the bells out on a little pallet truck and towed it behind a Land Rover out of the churchyard to the lorry,” he said.

“The bell hanger had never seen anything like it. The biggest bell weighed about half a ton and the smallest was about a quarter of a ton.

“We are also having a brand new metal frame so that should last at least another 200 years.” 

The bells are now due to be taken to Whitechapel Bell Foundary in London to be tuned along with two new bells which were cast at the foundary in September.

By Sophie Bignall