St Paul's and Chelsea

[alantaylor at HPSbR3Fp1rLHYSzmbDDgNJFBEA2PaqZvxhfpVbY6P3XXs5uGcxx7nASASMIVaeRV2m9CS057GsrvBgN1hKFRmZ9xfTqF.yahoo.invalid]

I am extremely glad that they are the only complete pre-tune harmonic 12 to
survive. I am also thankful that they are unique.

 

 If you think they should be listed and preserved, I would suggest that they
be put on display in the church yard. Then hang a musical peal of bells in
the tower. Just imagine a sound such as the bells of York Minster sounding
from the tower. I can’t imagine that the St Paul’s ringers would mind. As
long as the tenor is heavy they would be happy.

 

We have the same problem with the bells of St Luke’s Chelsea. They sound
dreadful; they are too heavy for the tower and therefore go badly. But we
are told they should be preserved as they are historically interesting as a
Thomas Mears 2nd peal of ten. I wonder why Thomas Mears 2nd bells are
getting rare. Although the last report from The Council for the Care of
Churches, said they felt the bells should be preserved as a peal of TM2nd
ten bells. But, as the trebles were so awful, new bells could be cast and
hung in their place. But the old trebles should be hung dead in the tower.
This breathtaking logic seems to miss the point, that with new trebles, the
ring would no longer be a TM2 ten.  And, the bells would still be too heavy
for the tower, and therefore the tower would still sway and this would
therefore make the bells tricky to ring. St Luke’s is to go to the expense
of a consistory court.

 

There is often the same debate over pipe organs. It doesn’t matter what it
sounds like, or if it is capable of accompanying a congregation or choir,
it’s old and therefore should be preserved.

 

Alan

 

 

"I agree. The bells themselves may not be much but put together and in 
their setting, they are quite something and unique."

They are also the only complete pre-true harmonic 12 to survive in their
original state (i.e. not tuned since, canons retained on those bells which
originally had them). As such, I strongly believe that they should be listed
- they are not at present. They are an important example of the development
of English bellfounding in the C19.

David

 

           
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ringingworld.co.uk/pipermail/bell-historians/attachments/20070930/b0057dfd/attachment.html>