[Bell Historians] Charlton Adam, Somerset

[David Bryant]

>  The answer is a qualified yes but it takes some careful disguised
>technology, and a bit of a maintenance issue.
>Pegged ironwork is capable of being re created and I am sure a hydraulic
>tool could easily be devised to draw the peg in to achieve the necessary
>pressure to hold the bell against the headstock. Once the kit is
>available if the headstock shrinks fitting a new peg would not be a big
>deal.

Yes, I accept that it can be done, but what is the point? Preserving 
existing fittings is one thing, but why create new fittings to 
eighteenth-century designs? The design of bell fittings evolved over the 
centuries and modern cast-iron headstocks can last well over a hundred years 
with little maintenance (as is well proven). Eighteenth-century fittings 
will need constant maintenance. Whilst there is a valid argument for 
maintaining good examples of earlier bell gear, there seems to me little 
point at all in re-creating it.

David