[Bell Historians] Eastry Sanctus Bell

[David Cawley]

As I think I told Michael Baron, or should have done, the attribution to Rufford was suggested by no less a person then Ranald Clouston himself, and whilst he would have been the last to claim infallibility, his opinions are not to be set aside lightly. Clearly, he had seen lettering like that on the Eastry bell which was attributed to Rufford, and that was his qualified conclusion - I say qualified as he went so far as to say ?John Rufford.

It would be interesting to know the original provenance of the bell, and Michael may do well to enquire into the building minutes accounts books of the old school, from whence the bell came. Certainly "secondhand" school bells are known elsewhere, but this is one of the more remarkable. It is a beautiful little casting, sadly cracked horizontally in the waist, with some of its canons off and its cast-in staple stump still in. I don't think it's French, it is unlike any medieval French bell I have seen. Even if it is not by Rufford it could be a wanderer from the medieval Worcester foundry.

Congratulations to Eastry on embarking on their present grand scheme of restoration and augmentation: will the little medieval bell this time be treated to the restoration it surely deserves?

DLC    
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: David Bryant 
  To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 8:06 PM
  Subject: [Bell Historians] FW: Unusual initial cross





  -----Original Message-----
  From: michael baron [mailto:mike.baron at 9YEcBDvjz4FFhAa3SZWXLiCqVbdYd_3Y-E3L2n87DrItWJUFUvuZhos00x1_J7GsTDJDIBw7M-lG7qydljB3rLcR.yahoo.invalid] 
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  Subject: Unusual initial cross



  I am researching the origin of a local, medieval (probably 14th Century) bell by looking for similarities in the bell's inscription with published details of the inscriptions on other bells.



  Up to now, I have trawled through some 14 different 'Church Bells of (County X)' books, without finding a match for the initial cross in the inscription on our bell. Our initial cross is in the form of a heraldic 'cross formee' or 'cross pattee', but most like a military German Iron Cross. While this shape is common in 14th Century bell inscriptions and in mint marks on 14th Century English 'Edwards' coinage, where the version of the cross on our bell differs from all similar crosses I have seen so far, is that the flat ends of all four of the cross's arms have a row of three balls or circles beween the cross ends & the perimeter of the cross's rectangular stamp. This makes a total of 12 circles, or balls, which could conceivably represent the 12 apostles. The only other representation of a cross surrounded by 12 balls that I have seen, is the Cross of Toulouse, France. In this case, the form of the cross is similar, though not as pronounced as the German Iron Cross, but the ends of the arms are not flat, as in our bell inscription, but are pointed (more like an arrow head). Please note, that the three balls at each end  of our cross's four arms, are not arranged in a triangular configuration, as is usual in a cross botonnee, or trefoil cross. Between each ball and the flat ends of the cross, there is a hint of a thin 'stalk' joining each ball to the flat cross ends. This may just be the result of a fine bell founding groove, to allow the molten bell metal to run from the cross into the hemispherical 'balls'. Is it possible that we have a French bell and not an English bell, as thought previously. Following our initial cross, the rest of the bells inscription reads 'AVE MARIA GRACIA' in Lombardic Capitals on individual letter stamps, with 'Royal Head' word stops between the AVE & MARIA and between the MARIA & GRACIA. Both the 'G' and the 'R' in GRACIA were cast upside-down. There are three moulding wires both above and below the inscription on our bell. The bell weighs 70 lbs and the 'mouth' is about 14.5 inches in diameter.



  I have been in contact with both the Rev. David Cawley (who, with Ranald Clouston,  saw our bell in the 1960s) and with Dr. John Eisel , but remain unconvinced by a diagnosis made some 40 years ago, that our bell was founded by one of the Ruffords of Toddington, Bedfordshire. My scepticism is the result of noting that all the published illustrations I have seen of the initial crosses on surviving Rufford bells are totally different to that on our bell, while the Lombardic letterings on Rufford bells are far cruder than the fine lettering on our bell.



  I would be most grateful if any of your bell historians can throw light on the origin of our bell, and in particular, on our most unusual initial cross. 



  Dr. J. Michael Baron, Eastry, Kent.



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