[Bell Historians] Gillett and Johnston records

[Neal Dodge]

Attached is a picture of the drawing in the Edinburgh cathedral ringing
room. The plan third from the bottom on the right is the relevant one, but
limited frame details.

Many Thanks
Neal Dodge

On Thu, 12 Mar 2026, 09:10 Michael A Williams, <michael at oldlight.co.uk>
wrote:

> There are tower plans as a set of blueprints, produced by G&J and dating
> from 1933, in the ASCY Library. I've not studied them in any great detail
> but I can look at them when I am next there to see if they may be of
> interest.
>
> Michael
> (ASCY Librarian)
>
> On Thu, 12 Mar 2026 at 06:57, Chris Pickford via Bell-historians <
> bell-historians at lists.ringingworld.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> The tuning books are at Croydon Library/Archives, along with just a few
>> other records (nothing very useful, to be honest). These were in the
>> custody of a successor company – Cope Allman – until Alan Buswell persuaded
>> them to deposit them at Croydon. Alan has done sterling work with these
>> records for many decades now – and has a database with all the main details
>> (weights, diameters, tuning figures etc).
>>
>>
>>
>> The order books and quite a lot of other clockmaking records – job files,
>> photographs – are with the current G&J clockmaking firms. There is limited
>> access by arrangement. I have used them from time to time, but not for
>> quite a while.
>>
>>
>>
>> I doubt, though, if the surviving records represent much more than (say)
>> 5% of what once existed – and the great bulk of a once great company
>> archive has almost certainly been lost
>>
>>
>>
>> As I recall there’s a large scale drawing of Bow tower in the ringing
>> room at Edinburgh Cathedral with an inset drawing showing the plan of the
>> frame.
>>
>>
>>
>> *Chris Pickford*
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* Bell-historians <bell-historians-bounces at lists.ringingworld.co.uk>
>> *On Behalf Of *oliver Lee via Bell-historians
>> *Sent:* 11 March 2026 23:14
>> *To:* 'Bell Historians' <bell-historians at lists.ringingworld.co.uk>
>> *Cc:* oliver Lee <oliverbellringer at outlook.com>
>> *Subject:* [Bell Historians] Gillett and Johnston records
>>
>>
>>
>> Recently I have taken an interest in the old pre war 12 at St Mary Le Bow
>> and as these where mostly recast by Gillett and Johnston in 1933 if was
>> wondering if any of their original records survive?, I know that their
>> tuning books are still in Existence but I have never heard anyone say
>> anything else about their other records although I can only assume that
>> they survive in some form or another and I think I can remember my friend
>> Kye leaver saying that he had seen some records in the croydon Library that
>> included some frame plans!. I would be very interested if anyone else can
>> add to this
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Oliver lee
>>
>> P/s does anyone happen to have a copy of the Old frame at Bow to hand?
>> I'm convinced that the modern frame is a carbon copy replica of it!
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