Fw: [Bell Historians] Eastry 3rd

[David Cawley]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Richard Offen 
To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 2:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Bell Historians] Eastry Sanctus Bell


DLC 21.3.07 Re Eastry Kent 3rd: The odd thing is that JT&Co, when 
estimating for recasting, slagged off the welding option, amongst 
other things, because the cracked bell was "deficient in weight and 
thickness". And the new bell is 2 1/2" inches SMALLER and no doubt 
around 2-cwt lighter than the "deficient" bell.

RCO 22.3.07 My apologies for referring to the fourth at Eastry, I meant the 
third - it was late at night when I posted my communication!

I entirely agree with David that the treble is an excellent bell (as 
one would expect from a 1902 Taylor bell), but the third! Is it 
really a true-harmonic bell? My memory must be even worse than I 
thought! I remember that we were singularly unimpressed when we 
(the KCACR bell hanging team) hung the new bell and tried the 
refashioned five out!

DLC 22.3.07. Well, I have Richard's own very detailed record of the day  that the refashioned five was tried out. As he compares above the Taylor 1902 treble with the third, this makes an interesting comparison with the notes of 20th December 1975, in which the treble is called "good" and the new third "quite good".

As to being true-harmonic, I quote Alan Hughes writing on 26th April 1996: "The treble and 3rd bells are conspicuously brighter than the remainder as they were cast and tuned to the modern 'Simpson' five toned standard."

As to its quality, Alan stated that "the replacement 3rd.....is a perfectly good bell".

Now as to the old third, I reported in January 1970 that it was still of fair tone but that the crack was then 14" long reaching almost to the shoulder. Taylors had originally noted the crack in 1934, and by 1973 it had reached the shoulder.Taylors were actively discouraging welding (Soundweld did not offer a guaratee at the time) and stating that recasting would guarantee a sound bell which would agree in tuning: "there is no certainity" they said "that a welded bell will agree in this way". They then went on that the bell was too light and thin - and then went on, as I have said before, to provide a replacement 2 1/2 inches smaller and nearly 2-cwt lighter than the old bell.  Thus the size relationship of the bells went 33 5/8" - 36 1/4" - 37 3/8" [was 39 7/8"] - 43 7/8" - 47 1/4".

No-one could remember the old third before it was cracked, but the only other Kent bell by its founder, Henry Wilnar of Borden, is the larger of two at Challock, q.v. Dickon's excellent site. It has been tuned and is an excellent bell. It is only a little smaller, and its proportions are similar to the old Eastry 3rd. Comparison with other bells which have been welded in the crown suggests that original pitch and sonority are restored.

Well, it wasn't welded, as we had urged, but preserved on account of its rarity. The somewhat random relationship of the present bells to the tenor (19#, 19 1/2#, 21 #, 12 1/4#, 0) makes the presence of two Simpson bells in a mixed ring a bit of a red herring at present. They certainly offer possibilities. It is interesting however that both bellfoundries comment on the old 3rd:

John Taylor (Bellfounders) Ltd (January 1996):"The Diocesan Advisor's suggestion to reintroduce the old third bell into the peal after welding it finds favour with us. Our investigations into the tonal qualities of this bell indicate this as practical folloowing the tuning of the remaining bells". Whitechapel (April 1996): "The previous third bell in terms of its, size is a far better match with its neighbours than the bell that replaced it.(It) could be repaired by welding and put back into the peal".

>From what Richard says, other counsels are to prevail. Both the 1975 memorial bell and its predecessor which had served the parish so well and so long are to preserved, the latter in continued retirement and silence. We can only await the results of tuning, but as to the balance in size and weight, there is no doubt that there is a conspicuous hiccup in the middle.  

DLC



 




            
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ringingworld.co.uk/pipermail/bell-historians/attachments/20070322/21e473e5/attachment.html>