[Bell Historians] Taylors and timber headstocks

[David Beacham]

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I've just unearthed a copy of a letter dated June 1986 from Peter Hayward (=
who then worked for Taylor's) to Chris Pickford. Chris kindly sent me this =
copy at that time and I'm sure he won't mind me quoting from it. Peter conf=
irmed that the three at Egmanton were the first to have CI headstocks (Marc=
h 1892), followed by the 41cwt Richards Castle single bell (Oct 1892). He s=
aid that the first ring of six to have them was N.Stoneham in March 1893 ".=
..and they came into common use in the Autumn of 1893 with Kendal and Merth=
yr Tydfil".

Peter also confimed that in 1894, Worcester Cathedral tenor (cast1869, 50cw=
t) was rehung with a CI headstock. That headstock (and the wheel) were re-u=
sed when the bells were recast in 1928 (tenor now 48cwt). It was possibly t=
he biggest CI stock that Taylor's had made at the time.

The 1869 wooden headstock (and hoop gudgeons) remained in the tower until w=
e lowered them in about 1980 when we were removing clappers and pulleys for=
overhaul. They are now on display in the cloisters. The headstock is one h=
uge piece of elm that I measured this morning. It is 64ins wide x 32ins hig=
h bx 11ins thick. The cut-out for the bell is 91/2ins deep. The annual ring=
s show that the diameter of the tree was probably at least 4ft!=20

DB
----- Original Message -----=20
From: Andrew Higson, Bellmaster=20
To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com=20
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2005 2:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Bell Historians] Taylors and timber headstocks


David is 2 years out at Nynehead, actually 1894. It was 3 & 4 of 5 that w=
ere fitted with CI stocks. The work was completed on Nov 3rd 1894. I can't =
find a reference to Nynehead in the iron casting books, so it is possible t=
hey were intended for another job which might explain why they are mis-numb=
ered.

The first specific reference to cast iron headstocks for ringing bells wa=
s on 1st March 1893, these being the three headstocks for Egmanton in Notts=
(Wake up George!).

There is an earlier cast iron headstock - for Richard's Castle which weig=
hed 7-3-4 and was cast in October 1892.

E&OE, just to be on the safe side!

Andrew
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