Ella S. Bulkley Memorial Carillon

*Location:

   St.James Episcopal Church
   West Street near Foster Street
   Danbury, Connecticut, USA
   LL: N 41.39320, W 73.45254

Site locator map

*Carillonist:

   George C. S. Bogart
   29 Mountain View Drive
   Brookfield, CT  06804-1415
   H: 203-775-2825
   - and -
   Christel Davis
   - and -
   Joanne F. Archibald   (A)
   E: jfarch56@gmail.com

   8Ap1928 ded. Andrew Meneely IV
      and Ruth Conniston-Morize
   c.1935-65 Melvin C. (Jim) Corbett   (C)
   Nancy Ryckelynck

*Contact:

   Joanne F. Archibald
   Director of Music Ministries
   E: jfarch@gmail.com
   - or -
   St.James Church
   25 West Street
   Danbury, CT  06810-7877
   T: 203-748-3561   F: 203-744-6350
   E: welcome@saintjamesdanbury.org

*Schedule:

   Before and after 10am Sunday service;
   Wednesdays at 1230 in July

*Remarks:

   The first American-made carillon.
   Last 2 bells donated by M.C.Corbett.
   Totally refurbished in 1987 by Olympic
   Carillon Engineering, with keyboard
   rebuilt & relocated, transmission
   replaced and bells turned
   (but not tuned).

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 25 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is E  in the middle octave
   Keyboard range:     C D   /    C D   
   Transposition is up  4 semitone(s), i.e., from C to E 
   There are two missing bass semitones
   There is no practice console
   The instrument was enlarged in 1936
     with bells made by Meneely/Wvlt 
   Prior history:
     In 1928, the instrument was enlarged to 23 bells
       by Meneely/Wvlt
       Keyboard range was:     C C   /    C C 11
     In 1928, the instrument was begun with 15 bells
       by Meneely/Wvlt
       Keyboard range was:     E B   /    NONE  
       Transposition was nil (concert pitch)
       There were three added semitones
   No auxiliary mechanisms known
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2019

The new church Website mentions the carillon on a Music page and a History page, but a former description of it is no longer available, nor is there any photo of the tower.

The old church Website had a tiny drawing of the building on the home page.  Once upon a time, there was also a page with an extensive and illustrated description of the last restoration of the carillon; but that seems to have been abandoned in the latest redesign of the Website.  (There does remain a brief description on the History page.)

A Web page on Connecticut Carillons (archived in 2003) has brief descriptions of 10 of the 11 carillons in this state, with thumbnail photos linked to larger JPEG files.

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Meneely (Watervliet) bellfoundry.
Where the second phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Meneely (Watervliet) bellfoundry.
Where the final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Meneely (Watervliet) bellfoundry.

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

Other small carillons with similar keyboard ranges.

Index to all traditional carillons in CT.

Index to all tower bell instruments in CT.

   This page was built from the database on 14-Oct-24
   based on textual data last updated on 2020/06/05
   and on technical data last updated on 1992/05/09