various

[David Bryant]

The list has been busy for the few days I've been away!

I've been down to the west country, and had chance to look at some
interesting things. Firstly, I made a point of going to look at the earliest
known cast iron headstock, formerly fitted to one of the bells (which?) at
Crediton, near Exeter, and made by a local millwright. It is now in the
church, and is basically a cast iron copy of a timber stock, with cast-in
gudgeons sealed with lead, a wheel flange and stay plate as part of the
casting. It is designed for a bell with canons and a cast in staple, and as
there are no holes for bell bolts must have had bolted straps through the
canons. I took some photos, but haven't had them developed yet. Does anybody
have the full inscription on the headstock? It is fixed to a wall by
brackets, so I could only see one side, and is rather corroded.

Secondly, I had a look at the fascinating ring of bells at Exeter Cathedral.
I noted that the 9th and 11th had unusual Taylor cast iron headstocks which
I hadn't seen elsewhere. Instead of the usual four bolting lugs (which the
smaller bells and the 10th have), they had a central lug on each side of the
stock (sometimes found elsewhere), but in addition four bolts in the usual
places contained within tubes cast as part of the headstock, and bolted on
top, so the bell would have six, rather than the usual four, bell bolts.
Does anyone know why this is, of whether there are any others like them
elsewhere?

Moving on, two of the bells are Taylor recasts of 1729 bells by William
Evans of Chepstow, and I have an interesting observation here regarding
facsimile inscriptions (discussed recently). The 7th, of 1902, has the old
inscription reproduced in Taylor's lettering, but the 3rd (of 1915) has the
old inscription in facsimile.

One of the most interesting bells in the tower is the 4th, which is of 1616
by local founder John Byrdall. I only looked quickly, but it appears that
the inscription (apart from the date) is in the black-letter script used by
the medieval Exeter foundry. The bell is also markedly long-waisted, a fact
which is clearly visible by comparing it with the 3rd and 5th on either side
of it.

David