Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/452

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vn. NOV. e, 1020.

HAMPSHIRE CHURCH BELLS.

(12 S. v. 44, 109.)

I.H., HAMPSHIRE BELL-FOUNDER (FL. c. 1619-1652).

WHEN DR. WHITE HE AD and MR. WALTERS wrote about this bell-founder at 12 S. v. 44, 109, nothing was known of him for certain beyond his initials and the bells on which they are stamped. From these initials and the other markings, and from the geographi- cal distribution of the bells, various conjec- tures had been made, but the hue and cry was not for conjectures, but for facts. Now, with the publication of the Rev. W. E. Col- chester's 'Hampshire Church Bells ' (Win- chester, Warren & Son, 1920), one fact which may possibly lead* on to more has been brought to light. It is that the Winchester College tenor bell was recast by I.H. in 1637 at Rornsey. Thus, we get the name of the place which he made his head- quarters, at any rate on one occasion.

The fact is established by a couple of entries in the College Accounts of 1636-7. One of them I was fortunately able to com- municate to Mi'. Colchester while he was collecting materials for his book, though, not having studied bell literature, I did not at that time properly appreciate the value of the information. The other entry I came upon later in the course of a more thorough search. Before setting the entries out (Mr. Colchester did not reproduce the first of them with perfect accuracy) 1 must say a few words about the bell itself, without, however, embarking here upon a complete history of it. The inscription on the bell, for which I am indebted to Mr. Colchester, is as follows : IOHN* HARI3 xARDeNe OF THE COLeDG NEAR^

xintone (below) 1637 1. H.

The peculiar type of the capital letters, and the absence of the letter W (for which x is substituted twice), led some writers to suppose that the bell is a foreigner, obtained by Warden Harris from abroad. But that supposition is untenable in view of what is stated in the College Accounts. Moreover, as Mr. Colchester tells us (p. 60), the so-called foreign type also occurs on three other I.H. bells of a more or less contemporaneous date at Porchester (1632), SouthiHayling

(1637) and Minstead (1638). Even if the- type of the letter? be foreign, an idea which; I see no reason to accept, these bells are- English.

This preface will suffice. Here are the entries :

1. (Custus Capellse et Libraries, 1636-7, 3rd quarter) :

Pro vehiculo ad vehendum cam- panam ad Rumsey et retro a R 18 O

Sol. ly Bell-Caster pro metallo novo superinfuso 83 L.* et dimid. et pro opere eius et pro ly wast, secundum pacta H 16 6-

2. (Custus Necessariorum cum Donis, 1636-7, 3rd quarter) :

ADpcat. ^cribse pro ly Covenants f drawinge inter Bursarios et Bell- Caster 020

Allocat. Mag. Dennet eunti ad Rumsey ad supervidendum Ly the Bell-cast r in expensis omnis generis, viz. Pro victu, Horshire, Horsmeate, et regardiis 15 10'

It is regrettable that the 'Bursars (of whom Mr. Dennet was one) did not divulge the bell-caster's name, but Bursars are apt to think more of their auditor than of posterity, and it is often not easy to foresee the precise point upon which the curiosity of a future generation will be concentrated. We must be grateful for the information that we actually get, that the bell was re-cast at Romsey.

Twenty-two years later the College was having another of its bells (now secunda) recast, and the work was done by Francis Foster, as appears by his name being on the bell. Foster (see Mr. Colchester, p. 45) had taken over the Salisbury foundry about the- year 1650. Yet our College Accounts of 165960 seem to indicate that Foster recast the bell, not at Salisbury, but at Romsey : (Custus Capellse, etc., 1st quarter) :

Sol. pro 98/ metalli additi novse carnpanse ad Is per pondus ... ... 4 18 0'

So. Fusori fundenti campanam ... 2

So. Aurigse portanti et reportanti

campanam ad Rumsey 10 0*

With these entries following upon those of 1636-7, it seems reasonable to suggest that campanologists should probe the question, whether there was not in the seventeenth century a convenient place at Romsey, now

deribus" (pounds). The letter is oddly written and all the entries are somewhat crabbed.
 * Or perhaps "p." for "ponderum." or "pon-

t My search for these Covenants has not been, successful.