Canon Simpson in his first paper On Bell Tones discusses the bells at Lower Beeding. His conclusions about the way continental founders tuned their bells proves not to be correct […]
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Category: Individual sets of bells
Two van Aerschodt carillons
Details of two historic van Aerschodt carillons, one at Eaton Hall, Cheshire and the other at Holy Trinity, Philadelphia, USA […]
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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Strike notes and tuning of old-style bells
Investigation of the tuning of 31 historic peals of eight and ten showing their strike pitches were tuned more accurately than expected, followed by a review of the few written accounts of historic methods of bell tuning. […]
Long-waisted bells
Comparison of the partials of five long-waisted bells shows a pattern to the lower partials that helps with analysis. […]
St George, Poynton, Cheshire
A classic Taylor peal from 1887. […]
The tuning of Westminster Abbey tenor
Detailed records taken when the tenor of Westminster Abbey was tuned in 1971 show the impossibility of independent tuning of upper partials. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]