[Bell Historians] GREENOCK - A PATINATED BRONZE CHURCH BELL - for sale

['Chris Pickford' c.j.pickford.t21@btinternet.com [bellhistorians]]

This bell doesn’t look like a Whitechapel bell to me – wrong lettering (although it’s a pity the online photos don’t show the 3-bell mark). RP isn’t Richard Phelps, of course (his tenure at Whitechapel was 1700-1738)

 

The bell is, however, mentioned in Clouston’s “Church Bells of Renfrewshire and Dunbartonshire” survey (PSAS Vol.LXXXII, seventh series Vol.X) of 1950 under West Kirk, Greenock (p.157) and the letters RP and the 3-bell mark are illustrated (p.149). It’s quite a small bell (17.75”). Clouston thought (pp.151 and 157) that the bell was probably cast by Roger Purdue of Bristol (fl.1644-1688)

 

The Greenock bell doesn’t seem to be listed (I’ve only taken a very hasty look) in Chris Dalton’s “comprehensive” lists of Purdue bells in his Dorset book, but we can’t tell if he disagreed with Clouston’s attribution or if he was unaware of the suggestion that this was a Purdue bell. I’ve not studied Purdue bells enough to comment on whether this might be one.

 

It’s rather alarming, though, that such a bell – with its local historic associations (as noted by Clouston) – has found its way into the saleroom. 

 

Chris Pickford

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