St.Giles/Blendworth & St.Mark/St.Louis

[Carl S Zimmerman]

The oldest dated bell in the city of Saint Louis (and for that 
matter, the surrounding 20 counties at least) arrived here 
comparatively recently, as a gift from the Anglican parish of 
St.Giles, Blendworth, Hampshire, to the Episcopal parish of St.Mark, 
Saint Louis, Missouri. This occurred about June, 1960, at the 
conclusion of a year wherein the two rectors had exchanged pulpits. 
Unfortunately I have been unable to discover whether any of the 
history of this bell was communicated to St.Mark's, and so I turn to 
this List in search of further information.

The bell carries the following inscription in the shoulder band:
I P I T 1 6 3 6
The letters have slight serifs, as does the base of the "1"; the top 
of the "3" is angular; and the two "6"s are not identical (one has a 
much tighter loop than the other).
Otherwise the only decoration is the bead lines, of which there are
2 on the domed top
2 above the inscription
2 below the inscription
3 below the waist
2 at the lip
The diameter is approximately 20.75", but it varies considerably 
because of heavy chipping around the lip.
The height is 19.5" to the base of the crown, and 24.6" to the top of 
the crown.
The crown has a tall center piece, rather flat, with a square-cut 
eye; the base of this piece has bulges on both sides, obviously for 
the rather thick cast-in clapper staple.
There are six canons, with vertical lower portions and slanted upper 
portions attached to the center piece just above the base of the eye.
There are severe cracks from the lip up to the mid-waist on opposite 
sides of the bell, so the pitch is indeterminate and the tone is a 
dull clunk. (A local monumental bronze firm attempted to weld the 
cracks a few years ago, but the welds are highly porous and the tone 
was not improved.)
Unfortunately I do not have a digital photograph of this bell.

Any information or educated guesses about this bell will be most welcome.

-- 
=Carl Scott Zimmerman= Co-Webmaster: http://www.gcna.org/
Voicemail: +1-314-821-8437 (home) mailto:csz_stl at s...
Saint Louis, Missouri, USA - 19th c. home of up to 33 bell foundries