Greenock

[Chris Pickford]

Clouston's Church Bells of Renfrewshire and Dunbartonshire (p.157) gives details of this bell which is at West Kirk, Greenock. It is inscribed:

(mark) FOR : THE : CHURCH (mark) OF (mark) GRINOCK : 1677 (mark) R (three bells) P

It is 17.75" in diameter. Clouston says "The treble is cast with canons and is hung dead from a beam in the louvre windows. The bell [footnote: referred to in Smith's History of Greenock p.364] was probably cast by Roger Purdue of Bristol, who was founding from 1644 to 1688. This founder was the second with this name, and usually worked in partnership with a relative William Purdue. At one time they temporarily migrated to Salisbury, but it is probable that this bell was cast in Bristol and sent up by boat to Greenock. Part of the inscription is shown in fig.14, the lettering is plain, without any ornamentation above or below it. ...The bell of 1677 hung in the Old West Kirk till 1856, when it was moved to its present position in the new church.

Fig 14 (p.149) just shows the letters 1677 (mark) R (three bells) P

Chris P


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