A relic from one of Bermuda’s best-known shipwrecks graces one of the Island’s most historic residences — but for some, the ship’s bell from the Pollockshields deserves a better home.

Devondale in Devonshire is a recent acquisition of the Bermuda National Trust, which was bequeathed to the estate by Jean Spence, a member of the Watlington family, who died in 2012 at the age of 86.

Although the house’s contents were sold off, executors of the family estate said at the time that the ship’s bell, which has its own stone plinth in the garden, was part of the residence and would remain there.

But a source who contacted The Royal Gazette questioned why the bell could not be put indoors or placed in a facility such as the Bermuda National Museum. The Pollockshields was loaded with munitions at the time of its September, 1915, sinking off Elbow Beach, during a hurricane.

It became a favourite for divers and has yielded all manner of memorabilia, including the bell that found its way to Devondale.