The bell of a ship which sank off Hartland during the Second World War now sounds ‘time’ at a local inn.

In December 1943, the 397-ton Florence Reynolds sank after a collision 10 miles west of Hartland Point. Last year the ship’s bell was found at a spot near the cliffs between Spekes Mill and Welcombe by Mr Clifford Prouse, of Greenfields, Baxworthy, Hartland. Now the bell hangs in the bar of the Westcountry Inn on the main Bideford-Bude road.

The Florence Reynolds was built in 1923 by Messrs Pitchers of Great Yarmouth. She was originally named The Coniscrag and the bell bears this name.

Gazette article dated 3 July 1964