charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" http-equiv=3DContent-Type=
>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2314.1000" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>My mother's family all came from Hexham an=
d we had=20
some involvement with the restoration in the 1970's. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>The three "Alfredus S. Lawson" bells (the =
present=20
5, 7 and 9) recast in 1884 are to my knowledge the only ones bearing his=20
name. Perhaps Hexham was his first job when he took over the foundry =
from=20
Robert Stainbank. The latter had dozens of bells bearing his name alo=
ne,=20
almost indiscriminately intermingled with bells of the same date bearing "M=
ears=20
& Stainbank". The late Bill Hughes told me that he had never seen=
nor=20
heard of any other "Lawson" bells and was going to check the day-book; neit=
her=20
he nor I ever did, and things are now different. Of subsequent Whitec=
hapel=20
founders, there are the medallion initials AH, AAH, RAH, LAH WAH, and DH.&n=
bsp;=20
I don't know of any 'Arthur Hughes' bells. Bert Hughes appears on at l=
east=20
a couple: as Church Warden of St Lawrence Jewry on one, and as the founder =
who=20
named the treble at Bow. Bill and Douglas reckoned they would never appear =
on a=20
bell other than by their initials, but when Westminster Abbey tenor was rec=
ast,=20
their names were (I think surreptitiously at the request of the Dean) inclu=
ded -=20
WAH reckoned it was "naughty but nice". "Alan Hughes made me" occurs =
on=20
the new 4th at All Sainrs, Norwich.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Yes, there were some pretty massive rings =
in some=20
of the greater churches - CJP's article on Ely Cathedral bells a while ago =
in=20
the comic gave some well-documented material on the great ring which existe=
d=20
there. Whether the great bells of Hexham survived till 1742 when the=
=20
predecessors of the present back eight were cast is not clear; some researc=
h in=20
the accounts required !</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>DLC</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE=20
style=3D"BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0p=
x; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV=20
style=3D"BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>Fro=
m:</B>=20
<A href=3D"mailto:khsbelring@a..."=20
title=3Dkhsbelring@a...>khsbelring@a...</A> </DIV>
<DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A=20
href=3D"mailto:bellhistorians@yahoogroups.com"=20
title=3Dbellhistorians@yahoogroups.com>bellhistorians@yahoogroups.com</A>=
</DIV>
<DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, June 24, 2003 7:45=
=20
PM</DIV>
<DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Bell Historians] Hea=
viest=20
six</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><TT>Hexham Abbey in Northumberland had a reputed 70cwt. si=
x of=20
which the back <BR>three may have been cast in 1401. By the year 1739 the=
=20
bells are chronicled as <BR>being " broken and in great disorder " Thomas=
=20
Lester cast a new eight in 1742. <BR>For bell historians it is interestin=
g to=20
note that three of the subsequent <BR>eight had the name Alfred S. Lawson=
(=20
Whitechapel ) on them. How many other bells <BR>have Lawsons name.=20
??<BR>Howard E. J. Smith<BR></TT><BR><BR><TT>This=20
message was sent to you via the Bell Historians' Mailing List. To unsubsc=
ribe=20
from the list send an email to=20
bellhistorians-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com<BR><BR></TT><BR><BR><TT>Your u=
se of=20
Yahoo! Groups is subject to the <A=20
href=3D"http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/">Yahoo! Terms of Service</A>.</=
TT>=20
<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>