IT was rung to warn people living by the Clyde of an impending attack during the Blitz, but was little used after the Second World War ended.
And now a priest, who discovered a forgotten painting by a 17th century master, is hoping to restore another abandoned treasure by giving new life to the former Clydebank Memorial Church's Emmanuel bell.
Father Jamie MacLeod has launched a £150,000 appeal to restore the bell along with more than 20 others at his church and retreat house, Whaley Hall in Derbyshire.
The priest hit the headlines last week when it was revealed that a painting he bought for £400 was a long-lost Anthony Van Dyck masterpiece worth £400,000.
He said: "I had originally intended to sell the painting but now I'd like to see it stay in the UK because it is one of a kind and part of our history. So I'm hoping that people will see the story, which went right around the world, and want to find out more about Whaley Hall and the bell project.
"If we can get enough people and businesses on board it could mean that the bells would ring out again."
The Emmanuel bell was the only bell used in Clydebank to warn people of incoming aircraft during the Second World War.
Father Jamie bought it on eBay two years ago and hopes to have it restored in time for the events to mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War later this year.
He said: "This bell served a significant purpose during wartime so it would be fitting to have it working again to mark the start of the earlier conflict now we are at peace.
"It would also be used next year to ring out again to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War."
The priest is an expert in bringing forgotten artefacts back to life, following his experience with the Van Dyck painting.
The picture, by the 17th-century Flemish artist, depicts a bearded Brussels magistrate wearing a ruff and was a study for a larger 1634 work showing seven magistrates, which has since been destroyed.
Philip Mould, an art expert working for the BBC's Antiques Roadshow, had suspected that the painting might be an original Van Dyck and had urged the cleric to have it stripped back to its original paintwork and authenticated.
Christopher Brown, director of the Ashmolean Mus-eum in Oxford, was then able to verify that the painting was genuine, the programme said.
The BBC Show's presenter Fiona Bruce said: "It's everyone's dream to spot a hidden masterpiece."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article