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Stoke-on-Trent - photo of the week
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The bell in the
car park at the rear of the Holy Trinity Church, Newcastle-under-Lyme
Cast at the Fountain Head Bell Foundry, Dublin in 1915
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Detail of the bell and pulley
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Matthew O'Byrne: The Fountain Head Bell
Foundry The best known of the Dublin bell founders was, undoubtedly, Matthew O'Byrne of The Fountain Head Bell Foundry. Matthew Byrne had been a Chief Engineer in The Royal Navy. In 1840 he established The Fountain Head Iron Foundry in James's Street, Dublin. His son, Matthew W., changed his surname to O'Byrne.
Bells by Matthew O'Byrne were cast and,
where necessary, tuned in the foundry before being fitted with headstocks
and other fittings. In 1887 the "M Byrne Patent Rotary Mounting" was
patented. This was a cast-iron headstock with a tapered hole through which
a tapered boss on the crown of the bell was inserted and bolted in place
using the crown staple bolt: "we claim that [this] is the best in
existence; in fact, it has no rivals….By slacking the nuts, the bell can
be rotated…in a few moments, thus presenting a new striking face to the
tongue to strike. This increases the life of the Bell beyond measure". |
M. Byrne Dublin
