THE much-travelled bells from a Teesside church have found a prominent new home as part of a £117,500 refurbishment.

The bells, from the parish church of St Hilda's, were relocated in the 1970s to the rear of All Saints' Church, in central Middlesbrough.

St Hilda's Church, demolished in 1969, had been built, mainly through public subscription, in 1838, and the bells are a lasting reminder of its historical importance to the town.

The distinctive bells, which were added to the church in 1864, are now on display in the heart of the town, just off Grange Road, and by the end of January feature lighting will ensure they are no longer a dim and distant memory.

Each of the eight bells bears the names of its donor: Thomas Vaughan; Clay Lane and South Bank Iron Companies; Gilkes Wilson Compan; Cochrane and Company; Hopkins and Company; Joseph Pease; Isaac Benson, the vicar, curate Richard Bradley, churchwardens John Shields Peacock and Beckwith Johnson Hopper and sidesmen John Storey, Francis Atkinson, Joseph Hodgson and William Rayner; Henry William Ferdinand Bolckow and John Vaughan.

Mike Clark, project manager for Middlesbrough Town Centre, said: "It will be a fitting location for the bells once it is complete. Not many people knew where they were before, so the new site will be a vast improvement."

Miller Construction, which is building the nearby Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art site, is carrying out the work.