City carillon

*Location:

   O.L.V. Kerk
   Kerkstraat near Marktplein
   Nieuwpoort (Nieuport),
     West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
   LL: N 51.12909, E 2.75100

Site locator map
City locator maps and gazetteer page

*Carillonist:

   (Mrs.) Els Debevere
   E: els.debevere/@/ skynet DOTbe

   1895-1914 Louis Deschieter
   1907-1914 Cyriel Michiels
   1954-2004 Paul Bourgois

*Contact:

   Dienst voor Toerisme
   Grote Markt 7
   8620 Nieuwpoort
   T: 058/22.44.22
   E: info@nieuwpoort.be

*Schedule:

   Friday 1115-1145 (market days);
   Wed.2030 (mid-June to mid-Sept)

*Remarks:

   Carillon of 1735, by P.van den Gheyn,
   replaced an older collection of bells
   (details unknown).  Georgius Dumery
   added 10 bells between 1760 and 1777.
   A.L.J.van Aerschodt recast 2 in 1845,
   and 5 more in 1879.
   All destroyed by war in 1914.
   Console has two rows of black keys
   (diachromatic) on manual, one row (flats
   only) on pedal.  Pythagorean tuning.
   Keyboard Bb,C,Eb,F,G also swing.

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 49 notes using 67 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is D# in the middle octave
   Transposition is up  5 semitone(s)
   Keyboard range:     BbC * /    BbG  *
   There are two missing bass semitones
   The presence or absence of a practice console is unknown
   The whole instrument was installed in 1952
     with 67 bells made by Michiels    
   Prior history:
     In 1845, some bells were recast or replaced
       with bells made by vanAerschodt
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
     In 1777, the instrument was enlarged to 44 bells
       by the maker cited in Remarks above
       (1 bells remain from that work.)
     In 1735, the instrument was begun with 34 bells
       by vandenGheyn 
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
       Pitch of heaviest bell was unknown
   Auxiliary mechanisms: S5    
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 1991

Local Website (in five languages) about the three successive carillons in Nieuwpoort, and the towers which have held them

Descriptive article (in Dutch, with tower photo) from the VBV (Vlaamse Beiaard Vereniging)

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Van den Gheyn bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the second phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of miscellaneous bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.
Where the third phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the van Aerschodt bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Michiels bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

Ranking among all Belgian traditional carillons by pitch (weight).
Ranking among all Belgian traditional carillons by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all Belgian traditional carillons by year of completion.

Index to all traditional carillons in BE.

Index to all tower bell instruments in BE/West-Vlaanderen.

   This page was built from the database on  5-Nov-23
   based on textual data last updated on 2012/09/06
   and on technical data last updated on 2012/09/06