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<DIV><SPAN class=859452711-26092009><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Abbott
& Co of Gateshead cast a number of bells in NE England. I was not
aware of any elsewhere, and like Howard I would be interested to know
more.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=859452711-26092009>So far as pillar boxes are concerned Abbots only
cast one, the 1853 experimental one in Botchergate, Carlisle which was the first
one on the British mainland. No drawings of it appear to have
survived. Subsequently contracts were let for each area of the UK but the
one for the north of England went to a founder called Ashworth in Burnley.
The earlier Channel Islands pillar boxes, two of which still exist, were cast
locally by a St Helier founder called Vaudin.
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=859452711-26092009>Peter Rivet</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
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