For an explanation of what this index contains (and does NOT contain), and of the additional details on each entry, see the Bellfoundry Indexes Advice.
NOTE: Rings cast for places in the British Isles are not listed here unless they belong to an institution that also has a carillon or chime, or have additional bells hung stationary, or have an interesting chiming machine.
ZANZIBAR : TANZANIA 1??? C [mech?] Cathedral Westminster : England 1856 - [great] "Big Ben" (original) Clock Tower Houses of Parliament Leeds : England 1859 - great Town Hall AUCKLAND - STM : NEW ZEALAND 1863 C ring Church of St.Matthew-in-the-City CALCUTTA (KOLKATA) - STJ : INDIA 1864 C chime St.James Church (Jora Girja) ADELAIDE - TH : AUSTRALIA 1865 C ring Town Hall Bolton : England 1872 - [great] Town Hall DEPTFORD : ENGLAND -SE 1872 C (chimola) St.Luke's Parish Church BRISBANE - STJ : AUSTRALIA 1876 F ring Cathedral Church of St.John (Anglican) DALSTON - SMK : ENGLAND -E 1877 C chime/ring Saint Mark's Parish Church INVERNESS : SCOTLAND-HI 1877 C chime/ring Cathedral Church of St.Andrew GRAHAMSTOWN : S AFRICA 1879 F ring Cathedral Church of SS.Michael & George WELLINGTON - STPE : NEW ZEALAND 188_ C chime St.Peter's Anglican Church MADRID - SF/1 : SPAIN 1882 C ring South tower Real Basilica de San Francisco el Grande MADRID - SF/2 : SPAIN 1882 C chime North tower Real Basilica de San Francisco el Grande AUCKLAND - STM : NEW ZEALAND 1883 R ring Church of St.Matthew-in-the-City MURRURUNDI : AUSTRALIA 1883 C chime St.Paul's Anglican Church CHARLESTON - G : USA - SC 1883*F ring Columbarium tower Grace Episcopal Church * (cast for St.Mary Magdalene, Enfield, Middlesex, England) QUÉBEC - B : CANADA - QU 1885 C ring The St.Matthew's Bell Tower (was part of St.Matthew's Church) BIRTLES HALL : ENGLAND -CH 1895 C chime St.Catherine Parish Church OLD GREENWICH - B : USA - CT 1901 C chimola Chimes Building Tod's Point (Greenwich Point Park) HARTLEPOOL : ENGLAND -DU 1902 C chime/ring St.Oswald Parish Church PERTH - STG : AUSTRALIA 1902 C (ring) Cathedral Church of St.George FREDERICTON - CCC : CANADA - NB 1911 C chime Christ Church Cathedral WINNIPEG - K : CANADA - MB 1912 C chime Knox United Church (formerly Knox Presbyterian Church) SAINT JOHN - T : CANADA - NB 1914 E chime Trinity Anglican Church TORONTO - TE : CANADA - ON 1914 C chime Timothy Eaton Memorial United Church TIMARU : NEW ZEALAND 1914 C chime Sacred Heart Basilica Church STAVANGER : NORWAY 1922 F trad Domkirke (Cathedral)
The firm of John Warner & Sons was begun in 1739. Under continuous ownership by the same family for more than two centuries, they manufactured a wide variety of products before finally closing in 1949. It's uncertain whether the firm might have operated under other names for some periods of their history.
Warner began making bells in 1788, and continued to do so (with a hiatus between 1816 and 1850) until 1924. Their total production of bells is unknown, but there are approximately 2550 surviving Warner bells that are hung primarily for change ringing, carrying dates from 1788 to 1921. That count does not include most of the bells referenced from the index listing above, nor a goodly number of clock bells, some of which bear the clock-maker's name rather than the Warner name. It also does not count a number of chimes and clock-chimes made of hemispherical bells, nor a few installations of tubular bells.
The Warner foundry (or foundries) operated at various locations in London from before 1782 until about 1924. These locations included Cheapside, Cripplegate (#2 Jewin Crescent, commonly known as the Crescent Foundry), Spitalfields (Spelman Street) and Fleet Street. Warner kept the Jewin Crescent address as their registered office after the Spitalfields location was developed in the 1870s. Other Warner foundries or works were located at Tendring, Essex and at Stockton-on-Tees, where the original Big Ben was cast.
Both the Cripplegate site and the Spitalfields site were badly damaged in WW II, and the land was cleared thereafter. All of Warners' bellfoundry records were also destroyed in that war, so details of their work must be recompiled from secondary sources.
Warners' telegraphic address was "Big Ben, London", and that was in their catalogue for 1900 in spite of the fact that their original casting of that great bell had been long gone (see list above).
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This index page was built from the database on 12-Nov-01 and last revised on 29-Jan-21.
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