After nearly two decades, St. Michael’s Church is making plans to restore its bell tower and carillon, located adjacent to the Parish Hall on Hope Street, to its former musical glory. The bells, once a familiar sound in downtown Bristol, have been silenced since 2009 when a routine inspection discovered the framework supporting them was in danger of collapse. Fearing the vibrations would trigger just that, the church stopped playing the bells. In the meantime, the tower itself continued to deteriorate, with water infiltrating the flat roof.

Now, the church has hatched a plan to restore the bells and the tower under the capable leadership of longtime parishioner Frank Munro, who is spearheading the project for the Vestry. The plan includes repointing the bricks, waterproofing, restoring the ironwork, and shortening the tower in order to replace the flat roof with a pitched slate one.

The bell tower was completed and dedicated on Sunday, June 17, 1962. Based on a book written by former longtime rector, the Rev. Canon Delbert W. Tildesley, it was thought to have 12 bells, 11 of which came from the Trinity Church that was on the corner of Bradford and Hope Streets before the construction of the Andrews School, while the 12th was given in memory of Katherine DeWolf.

The Verdin company of Cincinnati, Ohio, a world-renowned, sixth-generation family manufacturer in business since 1842 was first contacted in 1961 by the leadership of Saint Michael’s to transport and store the Trinity bells and has worked with the church to care for the bells ever since.

On Wednesday, October 28, Robert Verdin, who leads Verdin along with his cousin Jill Verdin Crew, and Jeff Lewis, Eastern manager, visited to view the status of the bells and tower. They made an exciting discovery, finding that St. Michael’s actually has 18 bells, making the carillon far more musically versatile than they realized. Verdin will come to Bristol, remove the bells through the roof of the tower and take them to Cincinnati to be refinished.

The last rector, Michael Horvath, had a different plan for the tower, proposing taking it down a handful of years ago, but the Historic District Commission denied that petition. The current plan was approved by the HDC in August, enthusiastically supported by the current rector, Ginny Wilder, an accomplished musician.

Munro estimates the project will cost about $500,000 so there is some significant fundraising to be done, but they hope to begin work next summer and complete the project in mid-2028.