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<DIV><FONT size=2 face="Comic Sans MS">Carl comments "<FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">It seems very odd that a bell of this relatively small
size, with intact crown, was drilled for the addition of a lifting bolt
(eye-bolt)"</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face="Comic Sans MS"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face="Comic Sans MS">More likely, surely, that a false crown
staple was fitted at some stage - and the hole later proved convenient for
fitting an eye-bolt.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face="Comic Sans MS"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face="Comic Sans MS">Given Anne's posting, I perhaps wasn't
clear enough that the lady I identified earlier almost certainly IS the person
named in the inscription, i.e. the widow of Sir William Stapleton (3rd Bart) who
would have been known as Dame Frances Stapleton from 1699 until her death in
1746. The question is whether or not the bell was cast for the family seat -
Greys Court at Rotherfield Greys - or for some other location. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face="Comic Sans MS"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face="Comic Sans MS">CP</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>