Anomalies in the tuning of Gillett & Johnston bells

Analysis of recordings of three Gillett & Johnson carillons from the 1920s and 1930s, and comparison against the original tuning book figures from the Gillett & Johnston archive, suggests that there is a surprising variation of up to a fifth of a semitone in the frequencies of the tuning forks used to measure and tune the partial frequencies. […]

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Merthyr Tydfil bells

Visited: Bill Hibbert 31 August 2002 This is a historically very important ring from the Taylor bellfoundry. The tower website used to say: “The bells were cast by John Taylor, Loughborough in 1893, and were only the second ring (after Norton, Sheffield) to be tuned by the ‘Simpson Principle’.” In fact the bells were cast in […]

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A Bochumer Verein steel bell in the UK

In the Peace Gardens in the middle of Sheffield, across from the town hall, hangs a steel bell cast in 1955 by Bochumer Verein, presented to the people of Sheffield in 1986. Those who have read the description of German steel bells will not be surprised to know that the bell is broadly true-harmonic. To […]

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The largest steel bell in the UK

The largest steel bell in the UK, cast by Naylor-Vickers of Sheffield in 1862, is in St Peter’s Italian Church, Holborn, London. Dickon Love and I visited it on 27 September 2002. This bell is sometimes know as The Steel Monster of Clerkenwell! The bell was exhibited at the International Exhibition of 1862. The exhibition […]

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