[Bell Historians] Clappers

[David Bryant]

"LOVE, Dickon" wrote:

> So what good advice did you receive David, and from whom? Anything worth
> sharing?

I've had emails from several within the bell trade, and a number of
ringers involved with the maintenance of large rings of bells. As you
would expect, opinions vary. However, it seems to be generally agreed,
especially in the light of what happened at St Paul's, that wrough iron
is not sensible in a bell of this size, good as it would undoubtedly
sound until it broke.

The options are therefore either another of EN16 or one of SG, bearing
in mind that SG clappers have improved a lot since the Minster had such
problems with them breaking in the 70s. Most people seem to agree that
as we leave the bells up it is probably better all round not to have a
counterbalance - hopefully omitting this will make the bell go and sound
a bit better. An SG clapper would be lighter than one of EN16, but a
pattern will need to be made as clappers of this size are hardly in
great demand! We've had prices for both SG and EN16 from several
bellhangers, which were all quite a bit cheaper than we expected,
bearing in mind that the existing clapper cost £800 in about 1975.

Tim Bradley and David Potter have also been making enquiries of various
people, and we're going to discuss what to do this evening after
practice.

David