McShane bells in the British Isles
Carl S Zimmerman
csz_stl at TIWujbfgycHt7oomGMh5arVA-lEmZ1jvrLkT6ioCXBaGr7ddh_hUjG23cs_ya8S1gaiIS7uogKysEjo.yahoo.invalid
Sun Nov 23 22:48:12 GMT 2008
It has long been known that the McShane Bell Foundry (Baltimore,
Maryland, USA) sent a chime of 13 bells to Falkirk, Scotland (1926).
But very little has been reported about their exports elsewhere. (I
thought that there had been a mention of one bell in England, perhaps
on this list, but it's not to be found in the Archives.)
This past week I acquired a photocopy of McShane's [August] 1888
catalogue, which runs to 120 pages, plus 30-page Supplement dated
Nov.1889. Two-thirds of the catalogue is occupied with lists of
places to which McShane bells have been sent, with the expressed
intent of making it possibly for any potential purchaser (at least in
the USA!) to visit a "nearby" place to hear one for himeself. The
list of "foreign" places occupies only 1/3 of a page, but includes a
few places which might be known to other subscribers of this list. A
few testimonials are interspersed with the lists, and the Supplement
is entirely occupied with testimonials.
Does anyone know whether McShane bells (all single, I presume)
survive in the following places:
St.Anne's Church, Birmingham, England (Rev.J.Dowling)
St.Mary's Church, Heaton Norris, Stockport, England (Francis Reichart
paid £20-10 for this bell, and remarked, "We had to build a proper
Tower for it which is now finished, and the bell is so far a *perfect
success*.) [* = italics]
St.Coleman's [sic] Church, Gilford, Ireland
Alexandria, Egypt (Rev.S.C.Ewing)
Wesleyan Chapel, Oracabessa, Jamaica
Meth.Episcc.Church, Bareilly, India
Church of the Sacred Heart, Mhow, India
The introduction to the Supplement mentions that another bell was
shipped to Ireland, but unfortunately does not mention its
destination. And of course the foundry continued to produce bells
for a further six decades, about which I have as yet no information.
Carl
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