Holy Family Bell

The bronze bell in Holy Family church, Southport
43” diameter approx 15 cwt (750 kgs)

The assistance of Mr Ray Woods in the maintenance of this bell and the information provided on this page, is very much appreciated...

The wording on the bell is:

Around the top
MATTHEW O’BYRNE FOUNTAIN HEAD BELL FOUNDRY JAMES’S ST DUBLIN

Lower down there are 5 lines of text
▪ SUM SIGNUM SONANS ( ‘I am a noisy gong’ according to Google translate)
▪ SUB INVOCATIONE SANCTE PETRI ( under the invocation of St Peter)
▪ AD 1912
▪ IN MEMORIAM GULIELMI PETRI BURROWS (In memory of William Peter Burrows)
▪ GEORGIUS J. RICHMOND RECTOR (George J. Richmond Rector)

George J. Richmond was parish priest here from 1902 - 1947 when he died.
Not sure who William Peter Burrows was, but perhaps he left the money, when he died, to have it made and installed, hence the ‘In memoriam’

And the cast iron bell headstock has
M. BYRNE’S PATENT ROTARY MOUNTINGS lettered on each side. This enabled the bell to be rotated on its mounting and allowed the clapper to strike a different point of the bell, spreading the wear and lengthening the life.

M (Matthew) Byrne was the father of Matthew O’Byrne (who adopted the O’Byrne name)

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start stop bwd fwd

 

The best known of the Dublin bell founders was, undoubtedly, Matthew O'Byrne of The Fountain Head Bell Foundry. Matthew Byrne, his father, had been a Chief Engineer in The Royal Navy and established in 1840 The Fountain Head Iron Foundry in James's Street, Dublin. The economic depression of the 1930s brought an end to the production of bells. The bell sits in a yoke on which one reads M. BYRNE’S PATENT ROTARY MOUNTINGS which refers to a patent that was attributed to him in 1887. The patent refers to 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. By slacking the nuts, the bell can be rotated, presenting a new striking face and increasing the life of the bell considerably.

 

On Saturday 15th August 2020 the bell was rung 75 times to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War 2 (also VJ day). The picture shown here is the local entry in 'Ringing World' to show it happened. Four other churches in Southport joined in with this event.

BellRingingVJDay2020