[Bell Historians] Re: St Mary Woolnoth

[Dickon Love]

--- In bellhistorians at y..., DJ Bryant <djb122 at y...> wrote:
> What notes are they? I don't have anyway of checking at home.
> 
> It says on Dickon's site - F, A and C. 

It looks like I misread Trollope's handwriting ... should be F, A, G.

> The mystery is why three bells with these notes were installed in
> the first place!

The treble hangs in a completely separate frame. There are many 
towers in London with separate service and sanctus/clock/priest 
bells. In the case of Woolnoth there are 2 service bells. The bells 
are older than the tower, and at one point the church had a ring of 
5. How the present bells would have fitted in is not known.

> Is there any chance/point of augmenting this ring?
> From Dickon's pictures (and some others I've seen in a book) I don't
> think there's room.

Realistically, not really. The present installation isn't exactly 
safe, so a lot of work needs to be done to keep them ticking over. 
There may be room for one more bell on that level, and maybe more if 
you use a 2 tier frame. The bells already swing at louvre height and 
must be pretty loud outside, although I haven't heard them.

It is amusing ringing the bells and looking down through the window 
(at floor level) at people walking past looking up at the tower. They 
would be able to see the ringers clearly if the windows weren't so 
dirty.

I grabbed the old 5 at Smithfield on Saturday ... so that now 
completes all the rings of 1 or more in the City! :)

DrL