Plans have been approved to permanently remove bells from a Grade II-listed Sunderland church to allow for repairs and potential reuse elsewhere.
The Durham Diocese Board of Finance recently applied for permission to remove eight church bells from St Mary’s Church in South Hylton to allow them to be “repaired and sited somewhere where they will be rung”.
An accompanying heritage statement noted the church has closed as an official place of worship and is in a “use seeking period”, with recent proposals including an “arts hub for the South Hylton community”.
Planning documents said it was likely that the bells would be removed to another church or used to train bell ringers at another venue, with either option making them “available to the public to hear”.
The applicant’s heritage statement said some bells had deteriorated to the point that they would “ring flat” and would have to be recast at a bell foundry.
Church of St Mary in South Hylton (May, 2025) Credit LDRS
Although the bells were not deemed as “nationally significant”, applicants said they were “worth preserving and reusing somewhere they can be heard again”.
Sunderland City Council has now approved listed building consent for the plans and the church bells will be removed by specialist contractors.
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Planning officers said the “minor harm to the building’s significance” would be outweighed by the “potential public benefit of the bells being reused elsewhere.”
Applicants previously said the plan was the best way to preserve the bells and “prevent the eventual loss of part of the building’s heritage.”
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