Somerset etc. details

[Susan & Christopher Dalton]

PS from yesterday

Upwood, Hunts. now Cambs.:  Sorry, for my 'Norris' read 'Owen', writer of
the county bell book of 1899.  The rehanging in 1890 he spoke about must
have involved no more than heaving the old f & f back into the new tower.
The bells were extremely rough to ring when we went there.

CURRY MALLET, Somerset, 6.  Visited 4/84  Tenor note between F-sharp and F
and others accordingly
1  M & S 1937  4-1-27
2  Thomas Bilbie 1764  5-1-7
3  As 3  5-2-24
4  ?Wellington foundry 1745  6-1-15
5  J Sturdy, London 15th c.  8-1-23
6  As 5  10-3-1
Back five retain canons and were retuned as part of complete job by M & S in
1937.  Treble true-harmonic.  Good wooden frame, wooden stocks and ball
bearings all 1937.

HAWKRIDGE, Som., 6.  Quick visit March 1975.  Tenor note B and others
accordingly.  Tenor diameter (the only one I got) 33 in.
1  M & S 1933 (an addition; true-harmonic)
2, 3, 4  M & S 1906
5, 6  Thomas Jefferies of Bristol, 16th c.
Harry Stokes f & f (wooden) 1906.  [Some work done in 1990s I believe.]

HORNBLOTTON, Som., 3.  Inspected with ladders Sept. 1979 with Neil Skelton.
All maiden;  canons on all.
1  Bristol foundry 14th or 15th c.  25 in.  E
2  Robert Austen II of Compton Dundon 1661.  27 1/2 in.  D
3  Bristol foundry 14th c. - not like treble.  30 1/8 in.  C
Frame, king-posted, built on top of stone vault.  19th c. stone tower with
wooden belfry.  The whole lot a builders' job when the tower was built.
Recent steel levers replacing wooden wheels.

LYNG, Som., now 6.  Seen before and after Whitechapel 1969 work.  It was the
George Purdue 1612 tenor (15-2-15) which was slightly cracked in the crown
and, those being pre-Soundweld days, replaced by the present Whitechapel
1969 bell.  The former treble of five, George Purdue 1609 (5-0-23), is or
was preserved on the tower floor and was replaced by a new bell in the ring
because it was flat and un-retunable.  See also RW article July 25 1969.

NEMPNETT THRUBWELL, Som., 6.  Visited to ring only.  The info. I have,
partly derived from George Massey, is 1 Taylor 1905, 2,3,5,6 Thomas Bilbie
1745, 4 Thomas Bilbie 1728.  Oak frame and fittings by Sully of Stogumber
1905.  But I think there must have been a partial rehanging (just gs & bs?)
since.  Key-note a little sharp of G;  treble true-harmonic.

NORTHOVER, Som.  Inspected Jan. 1992.
1  Richard Purdue I 1636 absent, having been broken and scrapped (but the
inscription band said to have been preserved in a museum in Yeovil).
2  Thomas Bayley of Bridgwater 1763.  32 1/2 in.
3  William Elery of Closworth 1751, badly cracked.  33 1/2 in.
4  Bristol medieval.  39 in.  G.
Canons on all three remaining bells.
5-bell frame and fittings mostly 18th c. and not intact.

TIMSBURY, Som., 6.  What I have from a May 1981 visit is 1 J Westcott of
Bristol 1842, 2-5 T Bilbie of Chewstoke 1758 and 6 T Mears II 1822.  I
thought then that the frame was probably 1758.  Fittings were by L & J 1907.
[But I think some updating is needed.]

WEARE, Som., 6.  1 M & S 1909.  2 T Bilbie 1733.  3 founder uncertain but
possibly J Rudhall for a Bristol practitioner, 1827.  4 Bristol medieval
probably c. 1400.  5 R Austen 1657.  6 T Bilbie 1755.  Fine 4-bell frame
(now housing five) of c.1620.  Treble on RSJs above.  Fittings probably L &
J but I don't have a date except that it would not be 1909.

E & O E.  Over and out.

C D