[Bell Historians] Taylor Headstocks

[David Bryant]

> What interested me on doing this process were the headstocks on the 
> 3rd and 4th, (naturally it was the 3rd rope, that went - in the 
> corner and on the upper tier, rope through a chute, pulley too 
> narriow to get the sally down through it!).
> 
> They appear to be the original headstocks from the hanging of the 8 
> in 1904(?) (the trebles' headstocks are dated 1947) but were VERY 
> different from the back 6. They were small and very thin in profile, 
> slightly curved with the stay simply bolted through the bottom and 
> held by a bracket for the upper bolt. I surmise that they were also 
> solid in construction.

They are fairly common on the smaller bells of rings in the early C20, and again in the 1960s. They're called bar headstocks, are or wrought iron and, as you say, are solid. Examples which immediately spring to mind are 2/6 at All SS, Nrowich (1914), 1&2/6 at St Botolph, Lincoln (1913), 1&2/12 at Painswick (1899), front six at Surfleet (1913&1932, 3rd now replaced in cast iron), Selby Abbey 1&2/10 Now replaced), St Patrick's Dublin, etc .From the 1960s, the front six at St Wilfrid's Harrogate Spring to mind.

Don't know specifically why they were used, but I would guess it was because they would be cheaper to make than cast iron stocks.

David


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