[Bell Historians] Useless Information..........

[David Cawley]

There is a quote in E Morris' Towers & Bells of Britain p 108, re Beverley Minster, from the YA Annual Report - stating that "The reader will wonder when he reads that a bell of such a weight as this Bourdon is raised and rung with ease. The hanging of it must be truly magnificent ... All the bells, as well as "Great John" are from the Loughborough Foundry, and are held to be among Messrs Taylor's greatest triumphs." Whether "raised and rung" means "full circle" is another thing - the fittings are very much like Hosanna and Great Peter, and not dissimilar to its predecessor, the present Great Bede of Downside to which Matthew refers.

Elsewhere KHS states that Fred Sharpe & Charlie Denyer had the Oxford Great Tom "up" BEFORE it was rehung by Mears & Stainbank in 1953. That would have been impossible by then owing to the state of the gear and frame. Fred told me that he had rung the great bell in full circles AFTER it was rehung, to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen's Coronation. The gear on this bell is very similar to that on Great Peter etc. The late Harry Parkes told me that rehanging the bell was extraordinarily difficult, especially the clappering, as unlike the others, this bell retains its canons. 

DLC  
           
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ringingworld.co.uk/pipermail/bell-historians/attachments/20101115/33d78433/attachment.html>