[Bell Historians] High Beach bells and Chime Barrel

[oliver Lee]

At one time I used to see Lucas quite regularly when he would come to our monthly 12 bell practices at Waltham abbey but as he now works for Taylors (in what capacity I don't know) I rarely see him and he's really hard to get hold of on social media , I would've gone up there today to have a look but as the Chap showing us around knew nothing about the bells and described everything Upstairs as being "shitty" I thought It would be best if I didn't push my luck although thinking about it now I probably should've told him that I  had come specifically to see them.  With the exception of a loose clavier and less then perfect acoustics the installation seemed to be in good order although I did notice that as in Clouston's day the tenor is still clocked by a chiming rope that goes down into the vestry below, I caught a glimpse of this as we went up and going by the fact that it was crudely coiled up I was of the impression that It wasn't regularly used.
Oliver


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From: Bell-historians <bell-historians-bounces at lists.ringingworld.co.uk> on behalf of Mike Chester via Bell-historians <bell-historians at lists.ringingworld.co.uk>
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2026 19:28
To: Bell Historians <bell-historians at lists.ringingworld.co.uk>
Cc: Mike Chester <mikechester at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Bell Historians] High Beach bells and Chime Barrel

Lucas Owen has a video about this chime

https://youtu.be/bNDse6dQiCY?is=0LkUqKqjef9dHeJL

It does not show upstairs at all, be he might be able to help. Sorry, I do not know his contact details.

Mike

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From: Bell-historians <bell-historians-bounces at lists.ringingworld.co.uk> on behalf of oliver Lee via Bell-historians <bell-historians at lists.ringingworld.co.uk>
Sent: Monday, 31 August 2026 19:21:34
To: 'Bell Historians' <bell-historians at lists.ringingworld.co.uk>
Cc: oliver Lee <oliverbellringer at outlook.com>
Subject: [Bell Historians] High Beach bells and Chime Barrel

Today I was lucky enough to visit the Hemispherical Carillon at High beach and whilst I did manage to briefly chime them I unfortunately didn't get up to see them in person which was a real shame given that I have been trying to research some of their Early history. The bells themselves where cast by Mears but interestingly they where supplied to the church by a firm called Lund and Blockley who seem to have had a fixation with Carillons providing a weight driven chime Barrel which could supposedly play plain Hunt on eight or ten bells in addition to a regular clavier that is still there now, although the Barrel and equipment was still there when Ranald Clouston visited in the early 1970s I have been unable to work out if any of it still remains so I was wondering if anyone who has been to High Beach can verify this? The installation was overhauled shortly after Clouston's visit but from what I could see not much had changed
Cheers
Oliver lee
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