Investigation of the tuning of 30 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. […]
Category: Individual sets of bells
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 […]
Coventry Cathedral – old ten
Sound re-created: WAH 8/5/04 Prior to the casting and installation of the current peal of twelve (originally a chime of 14), Coventry had a peal of ten which were by reputation one of the finest tens of their age – they were originally cast by Pack and Chapman in 1774 (though the 6th was recast […]
St Mary, Hale, Merseyside
This church, with a 14th century tower and a nave of 1754, was burnt to the ground by vandals in 1977. The original peal of bells, a Dobson 6, were destroyed in the blaze. The church has been completely restored, and now has a unique peal of bells, comprising six steel bells originally hung at […]