[Bell Historians] Madrid

[Dickon Love]

CJP:
> Secretaries can sometimes get a bit over-enthusiastic!

Apologies! Just an exciting Friday afternoon I guess.

> I'm quite sure that full details will be in Ranald's papers, now at
> the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford

In fact there is a copy of his papers before me at home! (Actually in 
the hands of the Holy Father himself) ... they do not contain any 
estimated weights or diameters other than those of the tenors (36.5" 
8 cwt in A flat for the ring; 45" 15 cwt in F for the chime).

There are some gems in these papers:

"Even when brand new, ringing in the English manner would have been 
almost impossible due to the very restricted space for some the 
ringers. The head of the circular staircase inside the tower has an 
iron ballustrade round it and the minimum clearance between it and 
the wall is 19". Thus for some of the bells the ringers would have 
had to stand and manipulate the bell rope which tends to flap around 
anyway in this small space. With the bells mounted in a framework a 
few feet above the heads of the ringers and with no floor between the 
noise must have been considerable and they would have had difficulty 
in concentrating and hearing the conductor."

DrL