[Bell Historians] Canon retaining bells

[Chris Povey]

Richard Offen wrote:-
>
> It would appear that, somewhere along the line, the story of
> Pebworth's new bells must have got a bit distorted and someone has
> been misquoted. I just cannot believe that WBF would have claimed
> not to have cast a bell with canons since the early 1950s when they
> have cast so many! There must have been some other reason why
> Doncaster pattern heads were chosen for these particular bells.
>

There is clearly a fascinating mystery lurking here. It was my suggestion
that the 1995 bells were cast with canons and fitted with canon-retainers of
the same pattern as the existing 6, so I was particularly interested in this
aspect of the project. I remember being surprised when told by the project
organiser that Whitechapel would not cast the bells with canons,
particularly as it was hardly a new process. It was a little time later that
I was told that Whitechapel had now offered to cast on canons, but these
could only be Doncasters. This is how the Doncaster heads came about - as I
know it; and indeed how it was related in the RW article (written not by me,
but by one of the people very intimately involved at this stage)

I shall seek confirmation - or otherwise - from the project organiser(s) of
the time.

Chris Povey