[Bell Historians] St Dunstan, Stepney

[Richard Smith richard@ex-parrot.com [bellhistorians]]

Richard Smith wrote:

> Does anyone have the details of the old eight at St Dunstan,
> Stepney which Thomas Mears recast into a ten in 1806?  Is it
> really plausible that the tenor weighed about 48 cwt?

Does anyone have any opinions on whether they really were 
48 cwt?  The first peal on the bells was in 1734, and was 
of Bob Major by nine ringers in 3h39, and five years later 
the next peal, also of Bob Major, took 3h34.  These seems 
awfully fast for a 48 cwt eight, bearing in mind the 
fittings of the time.  None of the recent peals of major at 
Sherborne (46 cwt) listed on BellBoard are anywhere near 
that fast.

When the first peal of major was rung at Bow (53 cwt) 
earlier that year, they had eleven ringers and still took 
4h3.  Admitedly there was a lot of tower sway at Bow when 
they were that big, but the same seems to have been true at 
Stepney.  Four years earlier the first peal at Southwark (51 
cwt), where there is no appreciable tower sway, had three 
men on the tenor to ring it behind, though they did push 
them round in 3h20.

That all said, according to LeMoine, the faculty papers for 
the replacement with a lighter ten give the total weight of 
the old eight as 154-1-4.  For comparison, the current total 
weight of Sherborne is 156-3-12.  This lends an air of 
likelihood to the suggestion that the old tenor was 48 cwt.

RAS


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Posted by: Richard Smith <richard at ex-parrot.com>
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