Town Hall bells

[David Cawley]

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Well, Andrew, you certainly had something to cheer you up after the CC !

The thing is that there are far more Victorian Town Halls etc in the north =
than in the south, and with the industrial progress of Lancs and Yorks, it =
follows that a large number of Town Hall bells are to be found there (where=
they never existed before, unlike many in the south) with some pretty impr=
essive sized bells. Not only the Victorians: the two other municipal caril=
lons, Newcastle and Spalding being 20th-century and in their present form q=
uite recent. Manchester (1937) of course got lucky in that the old install=
ation (10 + 10 + Great Abel) was massively heavy; and it remains the only c=
arillon where over half the bells are hung for ringing and all therefore ha=
ve to take account of those cast to ringing weights. It can be done.
Bradford TH (13, 87) are an impressive lot as must have been the old Rochda=
le chime destroyed by fire (15, 50). =
In the Midlands "Little John" and its quar=
ter bells knock everything into the shade; the Taylor "Big Joe" chime at Bi=
rmingham Uni is less impressive than it should be, probably because of the =
height of the tower, but the Gillett & Co "Big Brum" set in the Art Galler=
y, despite its date and the wooden inserts in the hammers will sound quite =
grand when they've sorted out the 3rd quarter timing. You would not think =
that Leicester (5, 21) bells were cast of the same metal or in the same cou=
ntry; they must rank as one of the most truly awful sets of bells anywhere,=
and they don't even switch off at night.
Going further south, Luton are in my view very, very good, and worth a visi=
t. South of London, Reading TH's Gillett, Bland & Co chime of 9 I recall a=
s particularly unpleasant; Portsmouth City Hall (not the Guildhall) which a=
re Mears for Benson have an amazing history of survival and are none the wo=
rse for that. There's an odd little set-up in Margate, where the Jubilee c=
lock tower has a panny 3-cwt set of G&J Cambridge Quarters of 1908 (replaci=
ng hemispherical bells), whilst the shopping centre just up the road has tw=
o sets of Mears for G&J bells cast a few years ago and supposedly synchroni=
zed with each other (but not the Jubilee clock tower). Details on Dickon's=
Kent site. All very odd.
Apart from that down south, the biggest Civic installation is I think South=
ampton, which are a Gillett 8 plus a 67-cwt hour bell.
Just a few random thoughts after reading Andrew's interesting posting and l=
ists. Everyone else in Leicester is at the England match.

DLC=20=20=20=20

----- Original Message -----=20
From: Andrew Aspland=20
To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com ; mike at m...=20
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2003 6:46 PM
Subject: [Bell Historians] Clock Chimes - information and requests for de=
tails


Hello everyone,

Arrived back from the central council - about to unlock my front door - w=
hen
a very nice set of Cambridge quarters sounded the hour. Had they taken al=
l
the sound control out from Holy Trinity Ossett? No but the clock chime i=
n
the town hall are restored to working order after a silence of well over =
ten
years. They were cast by Taylors in 1908 with a tenor of 8cwt in A (rest
are (going up the scale) B, E, F#, G#). Does anyone have accurate weights
and diameters?

They are not yet in the Chimes spreadsheet (at least not under Clock
Chimes).

Also:
Dewsbury, W Yorks, Town Hall, 5, 35cwt in D Pre-True-Harmonic Taylors
Batley, W Yorks, Library, 5, 30cwt Quarter Bells Taylors 1906
Huddersfield, W Yorks, Co-operative Society, 4, 9cwt in A Taylors 1904
Lindley, W Yorks, Clock Tower, 4, 16cwt in F Taylors 1902
Cleckheaton, W Yorks, Town Hall, 5, 21cwt Pre-True-Harmonic Taylors
Hartforth Hall, North Yorks, 5, 6cwt
Keighley Institute, W Yorks, 5, 25cwt Pre-True-Harmonic Taylors - ARE THE=
SE
STILL THERE?
Middlesborough, Cleveland, Town Hall 5, 47cwt Pre-True-Harmonic Taylors -
ARE THESE STILL THERE?
Thornaby, Cleveland, Town Hall, 5, 8cwt Taylors 1908 - ARE THESE STILL
THERE?

Morley, West Yorks, Town Hall 5????
Dewsbury, West Yorks, Co-Op 5????

Is this Town Hall thing just a West Riding phenomenon? I suspect Lancashi=
re
has a few - Manchester being the apotheosis.

Any details of the bells appreciated.
Andrew


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