LLanddeiniol

[Bill Hibbert]

See recent email received, with my reply appended. I will pass on any 
further information from this list.

Bill H

> Original question:
... the bell in our church, St Deiniol's, here in the village of 
LLanddeiniol, Ceredigion, near Aberystwyth was cast in 1833 and was 
from the Mears foundry ... The old, old church was replaced (alas!) 
in 1832-33 and the new bell cost the parish about £900 which was a 
great deal of money for a very small parish... (Q. what was the old 
bell, if any, we wonder?)

We are now wondering how on earth it was brought from their London 
foundry, and why they chose Mears. The roads over the mountains are 
described in travel notes as very dangerous at that time. Of course 
it might have come round by boat, as Aberystwyth was a busy harbour.. 
We do know also that one of our minor-gentry parishioners - Rev 
Thomas Richards - was at Cambridge and a friend of Clarkson and a 
supporter of the anti-slavery movement, so he could have had contacts 
in high places.

Any ideas or information you have would be most welcome.

> My reply:

I have a Mears catalogue published in about 1920. At that date, £910 
would have bought a peal of eight bells with a tenor weight of 10 1/2 
hundredweight, complete with all fixtures and fittings but excluding 
carriage, so £900 in 1833 seems an enormous sum to pay for one bell. 
Later in the catalogue there are prices for single bells, and a bell 
24 inches in diameter weighing 3 hundredweight is priced at £41 10s 
including fittings, so again £900 seems a very high price.

I would expect that the bell arrived at the nearest port by sea. Many 
historic bell foundries were sited near navigable watercourses 
because of the difficulty in moving heavy weights by land.

I will make further enquiries and see if anything further emerges.