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Friday, July 18, 2008, 07:00
The 15th Century village church hit the big time more than 10 years ago when it 'starred' in the wedding scene for the film Sense and Sensibility involving top name Hollywood actors such as Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson.
Since then movie fans have been turning up from various parts of the country to get wed in the idyllic country setting they spotted in the film.
But for the last 18 months the bells at the village church have been silent after it was decided that the bell tower is in such a poor state it would be dangerous to let them ring out.
And given a choice between church bells on a CD or no bells at all some couples have decided to go elsewhere, revealed churchwarden Bernard Hawkins.
“The bells have affected our weddings. Since Sense and Sensibility we have had quite a following for weddings because of the setting,” he said.
“We had one wedding booked a couple of years ago but when they realised the bells would not be rung they cancelled and went elsewhere.”
He said other couples had decided not to get spliced at the church when they discovered the bells had to stay quiet.
He added that couples had been coming from as far afield as Yorkshire to walk up the aisle in Berry Pomeroy because of the church's country setting.
But, he said, the prospect of the sound of church bells ringing out through a compact disc and a set of speakers had turned some couples right off.
Now the church is spending £45,000 on getting the tower repaired and all eight of the church bells refurbished.
And it is hoped that the bells will be ringing out again in time for midnight mass on Christmas Eve this year.
Sense and Sensibility was released to great acclaim in 1995. The filming which took place in Berry Pomeroy not only involved top stars but also included extras drawn from the village and surrounding area.
The church visitor's book was able to boast the signatures of all the top stars involved in the filming until someone sneaked in and cut out the pages some six months later.
It was thought the conscience of the thief had got the better of him when the pages were posted back to the village some months later, but they turned out to be photocopies of the originals.
The village church has only recently had £170,000 spent on re-rendering the 100-foot high church tower after the old render began dropping off, threatening to injure members of the congregation and visitors.
The work on removing all eight bells which date back to the 17th Century, including the biggest tenor bell which weighs three quarters of the tonne on its own – is due to start next month.
Members of the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers will be working alongside contractors to get the bells down before they are taken to Loughborough in Leicestershire for refurbishing.
While the bells are down work will be carried out on re-building the framework in the tower which holds them up.
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