[Bell Historians] Petham

[David Cawley]

I haven't got pitches for them, but noted:
Treble: untuned
2nd: turned in soundbow 6"; upper waist 2"
3rd: untuned
4th: turned in soundbow only 3"
5th: turned full height
Tenor: turned in soundbow only 4"

Like Dickon, I am very fond of these bells. Bill Hughes wrote to me abou them saying "effectively, they are our first 'Simpson' ring", which is remarkable considering the limited amount of tuning undertaken. He did not use the exrpession 'true-harmonic' which I believe is confined to Taylors. A remarkably old-fashioned looking installation for 1923; the front five have Doncaster heads, tenor is flat headed; all have timber headstocks and a locally built teak frame. The clock bell is exactly the same diameter as the treble, also with a Doncaster head, also cast by Mears, but in 1907, and 'old style'. It is interesting and instructive to compare it with the treble.

There is a bell at what was St Philip's, Stepney and is now The Royal London Hospital Library, diameter 30", weight 5-1-0 C# cast at Whitechapel in 1922
Bill Hughes wrote of it "It was a very good bell and quite audible here but we have not heard it for many a long year. It is tuned to 550 f.p.s. and has an octave hum. It was considered by Father (AAH) to be the first 'Simpson' bell we sold". The bell was still there last time I visited, on steel brackets projecting just beneath the west gable of the very lofty roof.

DLC
----- Original Message ----- 
From: LOVE, Dickon 
To: 'bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com' 
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2003 9:32 AM
Subject: [Bell Historians] Petham


Bill:
"1923 seems astonishly early for this, but I ought not to judge, I 
ought to go and record them."

Please do! They are a very pretty ring.

"The photo of the Petham bells on your website is interesting, one of 
the bells appears to be maiden."

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/dickon.love/kentbells/petham.htm

Yes - there is a maiden amongst them (the treble I think). They are also
stock bells (as CJP has mentioned elsewhere) hence the inscriptions hardly
make a rivetting read! The job was done extremely quickly with the new bells
in place within a year after the tower was gutted by fire, destroying the
old bells.

DrL

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