*Location:

   West Tower
   Cathedral Basilica of
     St.John the Baptist
   Military Road & Bonaventure Avenue
   Saint Johns, Newfoundland, Canada
   LL: N 47.56730, W 52.71021

Site locator map

*Contact:

   St.John's Cathedral Office
   200 Military Road
   St.Johns, NL  A1C 2E8
   T: (709)754-2170   F: (709)754-5608
   NOTE: Postal abbreviation for the
   province of Newfoundland and Labrador
   (merged in December 2001) is NL as of
   October 2002.

*Schedule:

   (unknown)

*Remarks:

   Largest 3 bells cast by James Murphy
   of Dublin in 1854 and 1857; smallest
   five cast by Matthew O'Byrne of Dublin,
   at the Fountain Head Bell Foundry.
   The East Tower contains an 1850 bell
   by Murphy, weighing nearly two tons;
   it was the largest bell cast in Ireland
   up to that time.
   New fittings and electro-mechanical
   system supplied in 1954-55, when
   extensive repairs were done on the
   belfries.  Bells removed in 1988 during
   tower restoration; not reinstalled
   until May 2009, with electric strikers.

*Technical data:

   Electric-automatic chime of  8 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is D  in the middle octave
   Transposition is not applicable
   Keyboard range:     ----  /    ----  
   There are no added semitones
   Installation was completed in 1906
     with bells made by multiple makers  
   No auxiliary mechanisms known
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2002

The Archdiocesan Website includes a section on the Basilica.  But the Online Tour (which had photos of the building as well as a page about the bells) was broken when last visited (Sep'07).  However, the Virtual Museum has a page about the bells, with photos.

The Website of the Basilica itself has a good photo of the building, and mentions the bells, but hides its location on an obscure page.

Where this work lies in the sequence of output of miscellaneous bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.

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 NL/NF.

   This page was built from the database on  9-Mar-21
   based on textual data last updated on 2021/03/08
   and on technical data last updated on 2004/01/18