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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-GB link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Thanks to Phil Watts and Bill Hibbert for their additions, and to Richard Offen for some extra information. I’ll add them, of course, but I’ll delay a while just in case anyone else wants to contribute.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Perhaps worth saying that the spreadsheet was a fairly “quick and dirty” exercise to collect in one place a lot of stuff that was previously only to be found in many places. It can now be improved and developed further. I particularly wanted to preserve George Elphick’s dating suggestions, keeping them distinct from dates suggested by other people, which is why (confusingly, I admit) there are multiple date columns. I’ve also used a system that allows dates to be sorted in a number of ways, standardising on quarters by century (C13-3 etc) and having approx dates (c.1260 etc) in a separate column. That may have been obvious, but perhaps worth explaining just in case it wasn’t.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The other thing to say is that the primary purpose of the exercise was to identify and place in a dating sequence all bells thought to be pre-1300 – but it’s useful to have later examples (especially blank / uninscribed ones) too. But there is a definite pecking order – a bit like judging a 12-bell eliminator where the order below the qualifying places is less important! I’d expect there to be quite a few more post-1300 bells that still need to be added. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>If anyone wants to contribute further examples or fill gaps in the available information, they key things to record are:<o:p></o:p></p><ul style='margin-top:0in' type=disc><li class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'>Accurate measurements (in Metric or Imperial – though the spreadsheet formulae to calculate relative height etc use Imperial) for<o:p></o:p></li><ul style='margin-top:0in' type=circle><li class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level2 lfo1'>Mouth diameter<o:p></o:p></li><li class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level2 lfo1'>Shoulder circumference (measured under the shoulder curve but as close to the top of the main bell)<o:p></o:p></li><li class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level2 lfo1'>Tangent (literally straight line from the lip to where the tape touches the shoulder)<o:p></o:p></li></ul><li class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'>Soundbow type – VERY important (see the Elphick sketches on the Intro worksheet)<o:p></o:p></li><li class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'>Other details less important although useful (canon type, moulding wires etc<o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>George Elphick saw nearly all the very early bells himself and made sectional drawing for many of them too. He was therefore in an excellent position to make comparisons. Thus his typography was based on a close study (admittedly over several decades) coupled with a practical man’s understanding of manufacturing techniques. A while back, Richard Johnston rightly queried on this list whether a typological dating sequence could really hold good, given the scope for regional variation, time-lag, ‘rogue exceptions’ etc. I accept that totally (as with architecture, technology and a great deal more), but I also feel that the main narrative suggested by Elphick holds good for what one might describe as “fully typical” early bells of different dates. I also believe that because of his method of study his ideas and conclusions are unlikely to be improved upon without a huge amount of revisiting and/or through the application of some method of scientific analysis as yet unknown. Richard’s caveat would still apply, all the same.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='color:#1F3864;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>Chris Pickford</span></i></b><span style='color:#1F3864;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#2F5496;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>Kinver (UK)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#2F5496;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>e-mail: </span><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'><a href="mailto:pickford5040@gmail.com">pickford5040@gmail.com</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>