[Bell Historians] Heaviest six & Alfred Lawson

[David Cawley]

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My mother's family all came from Hexham and we had some involvement with th=
e restoration in the 1970's.=20

The three "Alfredus S. Lawson" bells (the present 5, 7 and 9) recast in 188=
4 are to my knowledge the only ones bearing his name. Perhaps Hexham was h=
is first job when he took over the foundry from Robert Stainbank. The latt=
er had dozens of bells bearing his name alone, almost indiscriminately inte=
rmingled with bells of the same date bearing "Mears & Stainbank". The late=
Bill Hughes told me that he had never seen nor heard of any other "Lawson"=
bells and was going to check the day-book; neither he nor I ever did, and =
things are now different. Of subsequent Whitechapel founders, there are th=
e medallion initials AH, AAH, RAH, LAH WAH, and DH. I don't know of any 'A=
rthur Hughes' bells. Bert Hughes appears on at least a couple: as Church Wa=
rden of St Lawrence Jewry on one, and as the founder who named the treble a=
t Bow. Bill and Douglas reckoned they would never appear on a bell other th=
an by their initials, but when Westminster Abbey tenor was recast, their na=
mes were (I think surreptitiously at the request of the Dean) included - WA=
H reckoned it was "naughty but nice". "Alan Hughes made me" occurs on the =
new 4th at All Sainrs, Norwich.

Yes, there were some pretty massive rings in some of the greater churches -=
CJP's article on Ely Cathedral bells a while ago in the comic gave some we=
ll-documented material on the great ring which existed there. Whether the =
great bells of Hexham survived till 1742 when the predecessors of the prese=
nt back eight were cast is not clear; some research in the accounts require=
d !

DLC
----- Original Message -----=20
From: khsbelring at a...=20
To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com=20
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 7:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Bell Historians] Heaviest six


Hexham Abbey in Northumberland had a reputed 70cwt. six of which the back=
=20
three may have been cast in 1401. By the year 1739 the bells are chronicl=
ed as=20
being " broken and in great disorder " Thomas Lester cast a new eight in =
1742.=20
For bell historians it is interesting to note that three of the subsequen=
t=20
eight had the name Alfred S. Lawson ( Whitechapel ) on them. How many oth=
er bells=20
have Lawsons name. ??
Howard E. J. Smith

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