<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3c.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/loose.dtd">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"><!-- Network content -->
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.3059" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>Don't know for sure how Rudhall bells
reached Sussex - haven't investigated - but probably by sea. Charles Rudhall,
the brother of John, lived in Brighton for a time - hence the flurry of Rudhall
jobs in Sussex from 1777 to 1800. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>Generally, the Rudhalls used sea
transport down the Bristol channel to serve Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, south
Wales and - Jamaice and the USA. Otherwise they mainly used the network of
navigable rivers, and later the canals. Fulham bells went overland to Oxford,
and then down the Thames to London. The main river route was the river Severn,
navigable as far as Shrewsbury and this opened up the north west of England to
the Rudhalls.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>In all there are 5169 bells on the list,
including the 113 cast by Thomas Mears and C & G Mears at Gloucester from
1835-1847. People might like to guess the distribution ranking by historic
county, the list being headed by Gloucestershire with 1004. </FONT><FONT
face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>In alphabetical order, the next eight counties on
the list - with numbers of Rudhall bells (past and present) between 459 and 206
- are:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2> Cheshire</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2> Cornwall</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>
Herefordshire</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>
Lancashire</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>
Shropshire</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>
Staffordshire</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2> Wiltshire</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>
Worcestershire</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>I'll donate a copy of either my
<EM>Coventry</EM> book or my booklet on <EM>Bellframes</EM> to the
<STRONG>first</STRONG> person to identify the top five counties after
Gloucestershire in the correct descending order (i.e. 2-6) received by Friday 11
May - e-mail <STRONG>offline</STRONG> to <A
href="mailto:c.j.pickford@lKCgbMIRMBfRvIUbybfSbTlOhpM9XrMNlHhnmwB2n0c481KT9_w427jEgSARE7RmK0mJWkilFtZmYTxkzA0.yahoo.invalid">c.j.pickford@lKCgbMIRMBfRvIUbybfSbTlOhpM9XrMNlHhnmwB2n0c481KT9_w427jEgSARE7RmK0mJWkilFtZmYTxkzA0.yahoo.invalid</A>. I'll
post the figures after the "draw"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>CP</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>