[Bell Historians] Dove's Guide of 1800 (was Peals on Six Bells)

[Chris Pickford]

I've toyed with this idea over the years, but have come to the 
conclusion that the "snapshot date" basis for such a listing wouldn't be 
that useful. You would need too many snapshots - probably at ten yearly 
intervals (roughly like "Dove") - for it to be positively useful rather 
than merely interesting.

What would be helpful would be to have an online database showing key 
stages in the development of each ring, i.e. changes in number of bells 
and tenor weights over time. Ideally, the database would be structured 
to enable one to identify what rings existed in any given year (and 
refined down to localities and rings of 12, 10, 8, 6, 5 etc).

A fictional example could show Camford, Winterset, first getting a five, 
tenor 8 cwt in 1753, augmented to six in 1810, tenor recast to 8-3-1 in 
1812, all recast and augmented to eight 12-2-22 in 1921 - and with this 
data in the system the database would show the ring as it existed in ANY 
year from 1753 to the present day.

That way one could quickly establish (e.g.) what rings of eight existed 
in 1780, 1823, 1897 in a given county or region. It would also pick up 
tenor weights at a given date, e.g. 18 cwt from 1720 to 1815, then 
18-2-21 after recasting

Let's design a database structure first - and then start collecting the 
information to populate it. I can certainly contribute pretty 
comprehensive data (including extact weights of bells long gone) for 
many of the Midlands counties when we have a vehicle to make good use of it

-- 
Chris Pickford 4 Walmsley Court, High Street, Kinver, DY7 6HG Tel: 01384 
878435 or (mobile) 07811 453525 E-mail: c.j.pickford at M1W5pN6CX22IGXIFwMKMqiwErRYaAr9QpQMjT01WG1jmdrZMKEPImQPvPKGT_y0lp_nJcqyaoQ_Ly9MiHmSO.yahoo.invalid or 
(interchangeably) c.j.pickford.t21 at SvkNG3pTfg2NmsSaCwEUWjNDITbIAvep8zq60eeOm1vuqC9AhwRkgc8AwUOlaFaUZUBP87mZlvpj0ZFsSIwuHsn22az2K3A.yahoo.invalid