[Bell Historians] Holywood Church, Dumfriesshire

[Neal Dodge]

The Times article free of paywall can be viewed here
https://archive.ph/ILole
And the planning case & documents
https://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/CaseDetails.aspx?id=125736
Attached is a picture of one of the bells which is claimed to have been
cast between 1160 and 1176

The full study on the two bells authored by the owner of the church can be
found here.
https://www.hiddenheritage.info/_files/ugd/66c3ba_bd355640646445088dd6c72ea132c141.pdf

Including these telling extracts...
"Some bell conservationists had regrettably displayed partisan attitudes,
which compromised their reliability. For these reasons the authors were
conscious not to make assumptions, based on bell form and context in which
the bells had existed, but concentrate on the evidence the bells did
present, ie., what was written or exhibited on the bronze itself."
"It felt further pursuance of bell experts, and perhaps an unqualified
opinion was best avoided, particularly as it was the legend on the bells,
and the legend of the sponsor, not the form of the bells, that shaped the
study’s conclusions"

On Sun, 23 Feb 2025 at 16:56, Graham via Bell-historians <
bell-historians at lists.ringingworld.co.uk> wrote:

> oooh!  you are a tease Chris...🙂
>
>
> Graham
>
> 07974743766
>
>
> On Sun, 23 Feb 2025 at 16:54, c.j.pickford.t21--- via Bell-historians <
> bell-historians at lists.ringingworld.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> There's quite a story here, running back several years before this latest
>> twist.
>> The supposed value of of the bells is based on a historical study by the
>> owners - and conclusions that several experienced bell historians have felt
>> unable to endorse.
>> I shall say no more, but this is just to warn that the latest news is
>> only part of a longer story.
>> Chris Pickford
>>
>> Sent from my Huawei phone
>>
>>
>> -------- Original Message --------
>> Subject: [Bell Historians] Holywood Church, Dumfriesshire
>> From: alan bagworth via Bell-historians
>> To: bell-historians at lists.ringingworld.co.uk
>> CC: alan bagworth
>>
>> Thought this might be of interest.
>>
>> The Times on-line on Saturday 22 February in the Scotland section has a
>> report on two 'old' bells. The church was bought from the Church of
>> Scotland by a couple who have lowered the bells and put them into secure
>> storage as they feared they might be stolen. The local authority is now
>> ordering the couple to return the bells to the church. There are
>> pictures of the two bells which are believed to be linked to a
>> 12th-century knight 'William le Riche'. Is there any recorded
>> information on these bells and can their date be predicted from their
>> profile?. The report suggests they may have an eight figure valuation.
>>
>> Alan
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Bell-historians mailing list
>> Bell-historians at lists.ringingworld.co.uk
>> https://lists.ringingworld.co.uk/listinfo/bell-historians
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Bell-historians mailing list
>> Bell-historians at lists.ringingworld.co.uk
>> https://lists.ringingworld.co.uk/listinfo/bell-historians
>>
> _______________________________________________
> Bell-historians mailing list
> Bell-historians at lists.ringingworld.co.uk
> https://lists.ringingworld.co.uk/listinfo/bell-historians
>


-- 
Many Thanks
Neal Dodge
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ringingworld.co.uk/pipermail/bell-historians/attachments/20250224/07855c1f/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 469290542_122150140070322512_5412144407799249240_n.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 550922 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.ringingworld.co.uk/pipermail/bell-historians/attachments/20250224/07855c1f/attachment-0001.jpg>