Clapham, St Mary the Virgin
About the Bells
3 Bells, 3-3-12 in D (Tuning 1,2,3 of 5)
Clapham has a ring of three bells in a West-facing tower.
It was built in the 13th century and is built of flint, similar to Patching. There is no doubt that the bells are the oldest complete ring of three in Great Britain, and is part of the reason why they're listed. The bells are rung from the ground floor by red, white & blue sallied ropes. Since there is no staircase, access to the belfry is by a 16-rung vertical ladder.
At the top is a counter-weighted hatch. Once up, it is wise to shut the hatch because getting onto the frame is quite a task. The ladder to get onto the frame it directly above the ladder to the belfry, and requires you to reach around the sill and pull yourself up.
The belfry appears to be well kept and contains the old fittings when Taylors rehung them. On inspection, the old headstocks, ropes, plus various other metal parts were in the South West corner, and a 3/4 wheel in the South East. There may have been an issue with Twigs in the past as there was also a rake up there. A large external caliper is mounted on the frame plate too. The frame is around 6' above the floor which allows work to be carried out easily on the clappers. A telescopic ladder is recommended tho.
The bells are hung in an O frame in the 3.1 layout similar to Poynings. The end frame heads are in line with the long heads and the frame plates are below the sills. It was made around the 19th century with some of the posts coming from other frames. This can be identified by the colour and texture. These are:
.West truss - South brace
.South end truss - center post
.All the corner posts.
The bells were probably cast by Alan Rous around 1355. The bells are all similar in proportion with the second having quite a steep crown and the treble rather flat in comparison.
The inscriptions on each bell is most likely the name of the donor or a saint. Each one beginning with a cross stop of the same type. The second cross on the tenor has become distorted during the cast. Each letter is spaced out with the tenor's being the closest together, obviously to fit all the letters in. This way of spacing them out can also be found on one of the unused bell at Poynings.
The commission report of 1610 says: "The steeple faultie in Shingle." The one for 1724 just says: "Three bells".
All 3 of the bells were overhauled and rehung on new fittings by John Taylor & Co in 1986. They were rehung on ball bearings and the bells were quarter-turned. A loam-based chalk paint was painted on the inside of the bells which helps to identify the strike points.
Each bell is rung using a three-quarter wheel manufactured by the Loughborough foundry.
The tuning of the bells is rather interesting. The graphs plotted in the recordings sections shows how the bells are tuned to each other in relation to the diatonic scale. Given that the notes of these bells are F, E flat, and D, the tenor is a semitone too sharp. It also shows that on average, the seconds is fairly flat. This results in the 2 trebles being far apart, whereas the 2 tenors are close together.
Below is a diagram showing the profile of the bells made by George Elphick.
Visited:
.18/11/2022
Clapham has a ring of three bells in a West-facing tower.
It was built in the 13th century and is built of flint, similar to Patching. There is no doubt that the bells are the oldest complete ring of three in Great Britain, and is part of the reason why they're listed. The bells are rung from the ground floor by red, white & blue sallied ropes. Since there is no staircase, access to the belfry is by a 16-rung vertical ladder.
At the top is a counter-weighted hatch. Once up, it is wise to shut the hatch because getting onto the frame is quite a task. The ladder to get onto the frame it directly above the ladder to the belfry, and requires you to reach around the sill and pull yourself up.
The belfry appears to be well kept and contains the old fittings when Taylors rehung them. On inspection, the old headstocks, ropes, plus various other metal parts were in the South West corner, and a 3/4 wheel in the South East. There may have been an issue with Twigs in the past as there was also a rake up there. A large external caliper is mounted on the frame plate too. The frame is around 6' above the floor which allows work to be carried out easily on the clappers. A telescopic ladder is recommended tho.
The bells are hung in an O frame in the 3.1 layout similar to Poynings. The end frame heads are in line with the long heads and the frame plates are below the sills. It was made around the 19th century with some of the posts coming from other frames. This can be identified by the colour and texture. These are:
.West truss - South brace
.South end truss - center post
.All the corner posts.
The bells were probably cast by Alan Rous around 1355. The bells are all similar in proportion with the second having quite a steep crown and the treble rather flat in comparison.
The inscriptions on each bell is most likely the name of the donor or a saint. Each one beginning with a cross stop of the same type. The second cross on the tenor has become distorted during the cast. Each letter is spaced out with the tenor's being the closest together, obviously to fit all the letters in. This way of spacing them out can also be found on one of the unused bell at Poynings.
The commission report of 1610 says: "The steeple faultie in Shingle." The one for 1724 just says: "Three bells".
All 3 of the bells were overhauled and rehung on new fittings by John Taylor & Co in 1986. They were rehung on ball bearings and the bells were quarter-turned. A loam-based chalk paint was painted on the inside of the bells which helps to identify the strike points.
Each bell is rung using a three-quarter wheel manufactured by the Loughborough foundry.
The tuning of the bells is rather interesting. The graphs plotted in the recordings sections shows how the bells are tuned to each other in relation to the diatonic scale. Given that the notes of these bells are F, E flat, and D, the tenor is a semitone too sharp. It also shows that on average, the seconds is fairly flat. This results in the 2 trebles being far apart, whereas the 2 tenors are close together.
Below is a diagram showing the profile of the bells made by George Elphick.
Visited:
.18/11/2022
Recordings of the bells:
How the bells are tuned in relation to their nominal, using Simpson's theory.
Key [measured in cents]:
-99 ~ -90 -89 ~ -80 -79 ~ -70 -69 ~ -60 -59 ~ -50 -49 ~ -40 -39 ~ -30 -29 ~ -20 -19 ~ -10 -9 ~ -0
0 ~ 9 10 ~ 19 20 ~ 29 30 ~ 39 40 ~ 49 50 ~ 59 60 ~ 69 70 ~ 79 80 ~ 89 90 ~ 99+
-99 ~ -90 -89 ~ -80 -79 ~ -70 -69 ~ -60 -59 ~ -50 -49 ~ -40 -39 ~ -30 -29 ~ -20 -19 ~ -10 -9 ~ -0
0 ~ 9 10 ~ 19 20 ~ 29 30 ~ 39 40 ~ 49 50 ~ 59 60 ~ 69 70 ~ 79 80 ~ 89 90 ~ 99+
Bell 1
Hum - 371.5Hz - F#+7
Prime - 656Hz - E-8
Tierce - 846Hz - Ab+32 (minor 3rd)
Quint - 1092.5Hz - Db-25
Nominal - 1430Hz - F+41
Prime - 656Hz - E-8
Tierce - 846Hz - Ab+32 (minor 3rd)
Quint - 1092.5Hz - Db-25
Nominal - 1430Hz - F+41
| cut_clapham1.mp3 |
Bell 2
Hum - 339.5Hz - F-48
Prime - 536Hz - C+42
Tierce - 721Hz - F#-44 (minor 3rd)
Quint - 972Hz - B-27
Nominal - 1229.5Hz - Eb-20
Prime - 536Hz - C+42
Tierce - 721Hz - F#-44 (minor 3rd)
Quint - 972Hz - B-27
Nominal - 1229.5Hz - Eb-20
| cut_clapham2.mp3 |
Bell 3
Hum - 303.5Hz - Eb-42
Prime - 583.5Hz - D-10
Tierce - 693.5Hz - F-11 (minor 3rd)
Quint - 885Hz - A+10
Nominal - 1141.5Hz - D-49
Prime - 583.5Hz - D-10
Tierce - 693.5Hz - F-11 (minor 3rd)
Quint - 885Hz - A+10
Nominal - 1141.5Hz - D-49
| cut_clapham3.mp3 |
Inscriptions:
*Underlined text is inscriptions within the inscription band*
1 |
+ 🄸 🄰 🄲 🄾 🄱 🅄 🅂 |
2 |
+ 🄲 🄰 🅃 🄴 🄺 🄸 🄽 🄰 ⫶ |
3 |
+ 🄺 🄰 🅃 🄴 🅁 🄸 🄽 🄰 + 🄼 🄰 🅁 🄶 🄰 🅁 🄸 🅃 🄰 |
Photographs:
