[Bell Historians] Mystery bell - England 1751

[Julian Parr]

Dear all,

A very likely contender is the Bridgwater Foundry (Somerset) which was run by Thomas Bayley and Robert Street, in partnership, between 1749-56. They cast bells, pots made chandeliers and church and domestic clocks.

They are responsible for 3 other bells that made their way to the US at this time (often referred to as "Liberty Bells").

Inspection of the typeset and casting should help confirm/eliminate them.

Hope this helps,

Julian Parr
Wiltshire
Horologist
Salisbury DAC Clocks Advisor
Thomas Bayley biographer

From: Bell-historians <bell-historians-bounces at lists.ringingworld.co.uk> On Behalf Of Ken Webb via Bell-historians
Sent: 10 July 2026 9:06 am
To: bell-historians at lists.ringingworld.co.uk
Cc: Ken Webb <ken44webb at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Bell Historians] Mystery bell - England 1751


I suggest you search Dove for a wider casting date range - 1745 -1755? This range lists many other potential founders. (Not all founders have bells remaining from every year.)

I've no idea, but assume the many books with photos of bells of that age range is a good source - many are on the Whiting Society website.

Ideally please provide a photo of the whole bell - experts may recognise aspects such as the moulding wires and shape.

Ken
On 09/07/2026 21:15, Carl S Zimmerman via Bell-historians wrote:
This is a request for assistance in identifying the maker of a bell cast in England in 1751 for St.Peter's Church, Albany, New York, USA.  The two-line inscription around its shoulder bears the name of the church, the year of casting, and the names of the minister and churchwardens, but no indication of the bellfounder.  Dove's Guide online lists 17 English founders who are known to have made bells during that year.

The attached screenshots illustrate the style of lettering.  In addition to the shoulder band, there are three tightly spaced moulding wires at the rim, four that are somewhat more widely spaced below the waist, and two on top of the shoulder.  There is an oddly shaped tang with hole for a cross-bolt, and there was originally a cast-in clapper staple.

Based on these items of description, can any of you identify which of those founders likely made this bell?

Carl Scott Zimmerman, Campanologist
Saint Louis, Missouri, USA



_______________________________________________

Bell-historians mailing list

Bell-historians at lists.ringingworld.co.uk<mailto:Bell-historians at lists.ringingworld.co.uk>

https://lists.ringingworld.co.uk/listinfo/bell-historians
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ringingworld.co.uk/pipermail/bell-historians/attachments/20260710/172b1b5f/attachment.htm>