*Location:

   Église (Basilique) Notre-Dame
     de Buglose
   Rue des Pèlerins (D150)
     at Rue des Carillons
   Buglose,
     Saint-Vincent-de-Paul,
       Landes, France
   LL: N 43.78411, W 0.99085

Site locator map
City locator maps and gazetteer page

*Player:

   Denis-Pierre Villenave, carillonneur
   297 rue des Pèlerins
   Buglose
   40990 St-Vincent-de-Paul
   T: 06 13 69 06 32
   E: dpvillenave/@/free DOTfr
      Webform @ buglose40.wordpress.com

*Contact:

   (unknown)

*Schedule:

   Thursdays at 1530-1615, from 15 Feb.
   During the daily procession in the
   week of 8 September.

*Remarks:

   Three octaves, some notes having 2 or
   3 bells, for a total of 60 bells;
   played from a unique 4-octave (F-F)
   piano-style mechanical keyboard
   with variable transposition
   (Maisonnave system from Paccard,
   powered by foot pedals);
   missing semitones are bass C#,D#,F#.
   Clappers missing from some duplicates.
   First four bells supplied in 1894;
   bass bell added in 1900.
   Bollée supplied 3 clock bells.
   1923 addition by Dencausse, Tarbes.

*Technical data:

   Carillon-sized instrument with action described in Remarks above of 34 notes using 60 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is C  in the middle octave
   Transposition is adjustable (see above)
   Keyboard range:     * * 49/    NONE  
   The arrangement of tones and/or semitones
     is non-standard; see Remarks above.
   The instrument was enlarged in 1925
     with 31 bells made by Paccard      
   Prior history:
     In 1923, the instrument was enlarged to 32 bells
       by the maker cited in Remarks above
       (3 bells were added in and/or remain from that work.)
     In 1915, the instrument was enlarged to 29 bells
       by Bollée      
     In 1900, the instrument was enlarged to 26 bells
       by Paccard     
     In 1899, the instrument was enlarged to 25 bells
       by Paccard     
       Pitch of heaviest bell was unknown
     In 1895, the instrument was begun with 23 bells
       by Paccard     
   No auxiliary mechanisms known
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 1992

The Website of the carillon (in French) includes photos and videos (from YouTube) of this most unusual mechanism.

The new Website of the carillon opens with a photo of the tower, with three bells visible in the three openings of the first of three levels of the belfry.  The video "Adeste Fideles" shows the process of setting up the keyboard to play.

The French Wikipedia article about the building places it in a neighborhood of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul.  There is a section about the carillon, but no photos of the bells, only photos of the building.

Photo of the building

YouTube Video (2:44) of the operation of the Maisonnave system at Buglose.  Notice at 0:16 that the 4-octave (F-F keyboard can be moved left or right (presumably to change the transposition), in this case leaving the bottom half octave apparently useless.  Since the machine itself seems to have only 35 actions ("touches"), that makes a strange sort of sense.

YouTube Video (5:02) with French narration shows the building and the belfry.  Some treble bells are mounted horizontally like loudspeakers, with clappers linked together in sets of 3 a la Taylor doubled trebles (though some clappers are missing); stationary at 1:42-46, 1:59-2:01 and 2:12-2:16, working at 2:21-23.  At least one swinging bell has an external hammer for the carillon.  The machine is powered by a pair of foot pedals, reminiscent of a reed organ or harmonium.

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Paccard bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the second phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Paccard bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the third phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Paccard bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the fourth phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Bollée 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 final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Paccard bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

Ranking among all French non-traditional carillons by pitch (weight).
Ranking among all French non-traditional carillons by size (number of notes).
Ranking among all French non-traditional carillons by year of completion.

Index to all tower bell instruments in France/Landes.

   This page was built from the database on  8-Sep-24
   based on textual data last updated on 2024/09/03
   and on technical data last updated on 2018/11/03