[Bell Historians] Greenock

[Carl S Zimmerman]

At 11:09 +0000 2004/03/09, A Willis wrote:
>I found the following in 'Wiltshire Notes and Queries', vol I (1893 - 5).
>Does this bell still exist, and who cast it? The writer suggests Roger
>Purdue.
>
>	A writer in 'Scottish Antiquity' (April 1893) ...the bell 
>originally hung
>in the original parish church [and was transferred] to the new [one] where
>it still [is chimed]. Its dimensions are 18" in length; 12" in
>circumference at the apex; about 4'6" at the mouth...the inscription is FOR
>THE CHURCH AT GRINOCK 1677 RP three bells in a triangle VIVOS VOCO MORTUOS
>PLANGO.

One of those measurements is inconsistent with the rest, unless the 
bell has a _very_ peculiar shape. The circumference of 4'6" 
translates to a diameter of just over 17", which is consistent with 
the height (especially for such an old bell). But a circumference of 
12" translates to a diameter of less than four inches. That's 
scarcely believable, unless the writer was measuring the crown and 
not the shoulder; but who ever does that?

Carl