[Bell Historians] Bell frame for sale (of no practical use)

[Andrew Bull]

Horton is in the Wotton Branch of the G & B, the same branch as my home
tower of Dursley.

 

The frame is only part of the problem; this scheme has been struggling to
get off the ground ever since it was started. It is true that the faculty
currently granted calls for the existing frame to be recorded, and
re-assembled for display in "an appropriate venue". The other part of the
problem is that the individual who is driving the project takes little heed
of informed advice. The current scheme involves replacing the cracked 15 cwt
tenor of five with the 18 cwt ex-Writtle tenor offered by the Keltek Trust,
and adding a treble. It is the opinion of the Wotton Branch ringers - and no
offence is meant here to David Kelly or the Keltek Trust - that the
ex-Writtle tenor is an entirely inappropriate bell to have as a tenor to
this ring. The tower is a small one - suitable for a 10 cwt six at most -
and with no history of ringing, a local band would have to be trained from
scratch. This has been pointed out to the locals, and they even went to see
and hear the marvelous 10 cwt Taylor six at Clodock, Herefordshire.

 

The faculty has not closed the door on re-tuning, and I believe it may be
possible to remodel the bells into a lighter six with the present fourth as
tenor. I have offered to do a tonal analysis of the bells, but no such
analysis has yet been carried out by anyone. It is my opinion that the
Thomas Mears ex-Writtle tenor of 1811 is unlikely to be tunable to make a
good replacement tenor, and in any case the resulting ring will simply be
too big for the tower, and unsuitable for a new band from a small village. I
cannot see there being much progress in the foreseeable future unless there
is a dramatic re-evaluation of the project.

 

Andrew Bull

 

  _____  

It would be interesting to read between the lines on this one. Why advertise
the frame in the first place and in such specific terms?

 

Andrew Higson

           
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