*Location:

   South Congregational-First Baptist
     Church (UCC/ABC)
   Main Street
     at Arch and Chestnut Streets
   New Britain, Connecticut, USA
   LL: N 41.66535, W 72.78174

Site locator map

*Player:

   Tower Chime Guild
   Attn: David Westfall
   South Church
   90 Main Street
   New Britain, CT  06051-2287

*Contact:

   Richard Coffey,
     Minister of Music and Organist
   E: rcoffey@southchurch.org
   - or -
   South Church
   90 Main Street
   New Britain, CT  06051-2287
   T: 860-223-3691   F: 860-827-8681

*Schedule:

   (unknown)

*Remarks:

   One bell from 1868, possibly recast.
   Added semitones are F#,A#,C#.
   Cambridge (Westminster) quarters added
   to original clock in 1943.
   Old chimestand, disconnected, remains
   in tower; new transmission and baton
   keyboard (C-G, fully chromatic), 1988;
   mechanical clock replaced with
   electric; all by Verdin.
   Baptist/UCC joint congregation now
   share Congregational building.

*Technical data:

   Traditional chime (baton keyboard) of 14 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is C  in the middle octave
   Keyboard range:     C F   /    NONE  
   Transposition is nil (concert pitch)
   There are three added semitones
   There is no practice console
   The present keyboard was installed in 1988
     by the maker cited in Remarks above
   Prior history:
     In 1904, the complete instrument of 14 bells was installed
       with bells made by Meneely/Wvlt
   Auxiliary mechanisms: Q4HnCW
   Tower details: 
     Height of console:                  6 meters above ground
     Height of lowest level of bells:   21 meters above ground
     Height of highest level of bells:  21 meters above ground
     Belfry openness:  50%
   Year of latest technical information source is 1991

The church Website no longer has a photo of the building on its home page, and does not mention these bells.

Where this work lies in the sequence of output of the Meneely (Watervliet) bellfoundry.

Index to North American baton-keyboard chimes.

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

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 2010/10/16
   and on technical data last updated on 2001/12/17