Ladock Bells March
Ladock church bells were cast in the late 19th century by John Taylor and Co. of Loughborough and we are going back to the same business a 140 years later. Today the bell founding process is much better and the mistakes made in the past won’t be repeated. But who are John Taylor and Co and who makes bells?
Bell founding in England is one of the longest served industries and tuned British bells were considered the finest in the world. Examples can be found in New York, Washington and Sydney, but today only one remaining specialist foundry is still in existence. Until its closure in 2017 the Whitechapel foundry, famous for casting Big Ben and the original liberty bell, was the longest continually operating business in Great Britain. It’s closure bought an end to a company that had been in existence since the time of the hundred years war.
Many bells in Devon and Cornwall were cast by the Pennington family, a business that ran for over 200 years from the 1650s. They took a different approach and cast bells in situ. They would dig ‘bell pits’ in the churchyard or nearby fields, build furnaces sourcing local supplies and labour and create the bells within sight of the church they would be destined for.
By the 1880s when our bells were cast foundries had become more centralised and by this time only 3 were producing complete rings of bells, but they were doing it in volume. These were Whitechapel, Warners (who cast the original Big Ben and Gorran bells) and John Taylor and Co of Loughborough who established in the relatively recent 1780s and are famous for casting many of the best church bells in England including those at York Minster and Truro Cathedral. They also cast the Hells Bells bell for the AC/DC world tour!
The methods used today are similar to those from 150 years ago, but with modern equipment and tools. Bell casts are still made using a combination of sand, clay, straw and manure, bells are still cast with the same mix of copper and tin and inscriptions marked in the same way using the same tools. The bell foundry itself, located in the centre of Loughborough looks as if it comes from a bygone age, it being housed in large Victorian workshops and is well worth a visit.
Our bells will be removed from the tower in the summer before being relocated to Loughborough for restoration, recasting (bells 3 – 6) and retuning. We hope some of the bellringing band and/or significant donors may be able to make the journey and see the castings. Hopefully photos and reports will appear here.
Should you feel moved to make a gift towards the project at this time, relevant bank details are:
Account name: PCC OF LADOCK - BELLRINGERS; Sort code: 30-90-09; Acct. No: 47309468.
We have had some problems with BACs transfers, the account name needs to be in CAPITALS please.
We now have a GoFundMe page… https://gofund.me/818d1007
Jonathan Young
Tower Captain
Ladock Bells February
Last month I wrote about the problems our 140 year old bells have been facing. This time I’d like to explain what we are doing about it…
The final straw…
As I mentioned in the last article we knew our bells did not ring very well and it was one cold, dark January practice night last year when the bells were being particular difficult and verging on dangerous that I to put it to the band that we should do something to fundamentally improve them. Before I’d even finished the sentence Renfree said ‘Yes! Absolutely’…
Who do you call?
I first spoke with the PCC, after all they are the church’s bells and whatever we may or may not think of them they are first and foremost church property and to go about doing any major work it is perhaps polite to ask the owners.
The PCC were (and are) fully supportive of the proposed work. At this stage we didn’t know the scope of the work or how bad things had really got. So, as with any project, it is important to get the view of experts in the field as well as surveys and quotes.
There are only a handful of businesses around the country who have the skills, knowledge and expertise and we were visited by three. All were in agreement that significant work was required and that the frame, in particular, was in serious distress and well passed its shelf life. Coupled with the issues with the fittings all suggested a new, purpose built metal bell frame. In addition it was advised that tuning should be carried out- you wouldn’t spend a lot of money restoring a Stradivarius only to leave it out of tune.
How do you tune a half ton bell?
Before the industrial revolution chip hammers were used to knock strips of metal off the inside or outside of a bell. In the 1920s and 30s bell foundries started using lathes and vertical boring machines, turning the bell upside down, slowly spinning it and scraping the inner face in a continuous circle. By taking metal off certain points harmonics can be produced. Today fives partial tones are tuned into a bell to give it power, it’s harmonics and tone. Even the biggest bells can be precisely tuned using these techniques.
But you need something good to start with
Bells are now deliberately cast slightly over weight and sharp of the required note to allow tuning to take place. Our two smallest bells were made right when the new tuning techniques been were being employed and are tunefully very good. Unfortunately the older bells, in particular 3 and 4, were of a different profile meaning they don’t have the weight or shape to allow good tuning. In fact bell 3, if tuned to the correct note would potentially be too thin due to the amount of metal required to be removed, and there is even a possibility it would fall to pieces.
The solution is to recast bells 3-4-5-6 using new bell profiles and to tune them to the correct harmonics. This process melts down the old metal, supplemented with new and forming them in new moulds.
What happens next?
In the next instalment I’ll talk about our chosen contractor and the processes that will be carried out to make our new bells.
Should you feel moved to make a gift towards the project at this time, relevant bank details are: Account name: PCC of Ladock - Bell Ringers; Sort code: 30-90-09; Acct. No: 47309468.
Jonathan Young
Tower Captain
Ladock Bells January
Before Christmas we wrote a piece for the Ladock news about our bells and the forthcoming restoration program. We will continue to update on plans on progress in the Ladock news during this year.
So what is wrong our bells?
The heaviest 6 bells were cast and installed in 1883 and two more added over forty years later. It is clear there were plans to add the smallest two bells from the off as the frame was built ready for 8. Money was tight and this 6 + 2 was a common practice for churches looking to have a complete octave of bells. It is also notable that at the time cast iron frames, a new technology in bell hanging, would have been available but at a cost. Instead, a wooden frame was used and which would have significantly cheaper.
This frame supports over two and a half tons of moving bells 70 ft up. Over time this movement, together with the elements and age means it will become less rigid and makes the bells harder to ring. In many cases this can cause the bells to become unsafe and potentially fall or cause damage to the tower, as had occurred at St Enoder.
Why are we doing this now?
Quite simply if we do nothing within 5 years we will physically find them too difficult/dangerous to ring and they will be shut down. We need to be able to teach the next generation of bell ringers and, bit like trying to learn to drive in a car with no clutch, worn brakes, bent chassis and flat tyres, it is very difficult.
What else did we find?
During the inspection of the potential work we discovered several further concerning issues, one of which was a broken ‘gudgeon’ on the 7th bell. This is one of two metal rods on either side of the bell that hold it in the frame. If we had continued to ring the bell it would have fallen… not far, a few feet, but enough that it would have cause significant damage to itself, possibly others, also the frame and the tower.
As well as the state of the frame our bells are not the most tuneful. The tonal difference between bells 1-2 and 3-4-5-6 is significant and this is due to the forty year gap between their casting. By 1925 harmonic tuning in bells was established and our 1 and 2 are good examples of this. Unfortunately the older bells, in particular 3 and 4 are rather ‘flat’ in note. This can normally be rectified by tuning. To tune a bell it is turned upside down and placed on a lathe before metal scraped off the inside wall in key locations. However, our bells 3-6 are, again, subject to a change of manufacturing practice. To improve the tonality the location within the bell where tuning would be need is, in bells of this era, notoriously thin.
What happens next?
I’ll leave that to the next edition of the Ladock news….
Should you feel moved to make a gift towards the project at this time, relevant bank details are: Account name: PCC of Ladock - Bell Ringers; Sort code: 30-90-09; Acct. No: 47309468.
Jonathan Young
Tower Captain