[Bell Historians] McShane bells in the British Isles

[c.j.pickford at talk21.com]

Can’t help with the bels in Ireland, but the one at Heaton Norris was explored on Bell Historians some years ago. It was at St.Mary’s Roman Catholic Church until it was replaced by a new Taylor bell in 1963 (30” 5-0-12 C 1032hz)

 

The old bell was 24.625” and weighed 3-1-24. It had a conical top. Taylors recorded the full inscription, which was:

Inscription band blank

Waist: (large cross) / PRESENTED TO / ST MARY’S CHURCH / HEATON NORRIS / BY MRS. A. BRADLEY 

Opposite: HENRY MC SHANE & CO / BALTIMORE, M.D. / 1885. 

Carl informed the list in 2008 that the Catalogue of McShane of Baltimore, [August] 1888 (120pp) and its supplement dated Nov.1889 (30pp) lists - St.Mary's Church, Heaton Norris, Stockport, England (Francis Reichart paid £20-10 for this bell, and remarked, “We had to build a proper Tower for it which is now finished, and the bell is so far a perfect success.) 

There is another McShane bell at a Roman Catholic Church in Birmingham. Here are the details

 

BIRMINGHAM – St.Anne (R.C.), Alcester Street

The mission here was founded in 1849. The present church was built in 1884 to the designs of A. Vicars of Vicars & O’Neill of London, architects. It is a brick building in the Early English style, having a north west tower with an octagonal belfry stage and a stone spire. There is no fixed access to the belfry.

There is a large bell, which is hung for slow swinging and fitted with a tolling hammer for the angelus. 

Bell                                      Inscription

1.    On crown (incised): 2033

      Waist: MC SHANE BELL FOUNDRY. / HENRY MC SHANE & CO. / BALTIMORE, MD. / 1884.

 



Bell


Founder and date


Diameter

Note

Cwt.

Qrs.

Lbs.


1.

Henry McShane & Co, 1884

46

E

18

0

17

 

This is a rare example in the United Kingdom of the work of the American bellfounder, Henry Mc.Shane & Co of Baltimore, Maryland. A bell for “St.Anne's Church, Birmingham, England (Rev. J. Dowling)” is listed in the firm’s catalogue of 1888-9. A report of the ceremonies at the opening of the church in The Tablet of 19 July 1884 contains the following account of the new bell:

… One special feature is the bell, cast by MacShane and Co., of Baltimore, United States, which weighs 2,033 pounds, and measures forty-five and a half inches across the mouth. This is the first bell sent to England by this firm, though they have cast Imo [? number illegible on scan] church bells annually for the last twelve years. This bell at St. Anne's is in the key of E, and has been much admired for its clearness and richness of tone …

 

The number on the crown is thus the weight of the bell – 2033lbs equates to 18-0-17. Other work from this foundry includes a chime of thirteen bells at Falkirk Old Kirk in Scotland, cast by McShane in 1926 and a former bell of 1885 at Heaton Norris in Lancashire. The bell at St.Anne’s has a conical head. 

It is hung in the American style with a pedestal frame (similar to Bellframes type 8.3.B.a) resting on two stout wooden beams. The frame castings carry the inscription “Mc.SHANE & CO. BALTO. MD.”. The fittings include a horseshoe-shaped iron stock with bolted steel gudgeons, plain bearings, wooden wheel and clapper with springs. The bell is secured to its stock with a single bolt which doubles as a crown staple for the suspension of the clapper. There is a separate tolling hammer. The frame and fittings are as supplied by McShane in 1884.

Visited: CJP, RLJ, CJND, 24 January 2003 and CJP, CJND (ladders) 28 February 2003

 

I’d certainly be interested to learn of any others in the UK

 

Chris Pickford

Kinver (UK)

Tel: 07811-453525

e-mail: pickford5040 at gmail.com <mailto:pickford5040 at gmail.com>  

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