*Location:

   Abdijtoren - "Lange Jan"
   Onder den Toren at Nieuwe Kerkgang
   Middelburg, Zeeland, Netherlands
   LL: N 51.49975, E 3.61491

Site locator map
City locator maps and gazetteer page

*Carillonist:

   Janno den Engelsman
   E: jannodenengelsman@gmail.com

*Contact:

   (unknown)

*Schedule:

   Thursday 1200-1300;
   Saturday 1100-1200 (mid-May to mid-Sept)

*Remarks:

   Carillon of 1715 was the only one
   remaining by Noorden & de Grave.  Taylor
   recast 3 bells (bass and two much
   smaller).  All was destroyed by war
   in May 1940, but the G0 peal bell
   survived to become the basis for the
   A.H.Vanbergen carillon, which was cast
   in 1950 but not installed until 1955.

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 49 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is G  in the bass octave
   Transposition is down 3 semitone(s)
   Keyboard range:     --C   /    A#--  
   There are two missing bass semitones
   25 bells were recast or replaced in 1984
     by Eijsbouts   
   Prior history:
     In 1955, the complete instrument of 49 bells was installed
       by vanBergen   
       (23 bells remain from that work.)
     In 1897, some bells were recast or replaced
       with bells made by Taylor      
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
     In 1714, a complete instrument of 43 bells was installed
       by the maker cited in Remarks above
       (1 bells remain from that work.)
   Auxiliary mechanisms: E     
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 1992

Additional information on the technical history of this instrument can be found in a database printout.

The Dutch Wikipedia article about the abbey focuses on the restored section that is now occupied by the Zeeuws Museum.

The Dutch Wikipedia article about the bell tower has current and historic photos of it, and gives an extensive history of the bells which have occupied it.  Only the largest ringing bell from Claes Noorden and Jan Albert de Grave (1715) with tonal G (approx. 6150 kg) is still hanging in the tower, and this was the basis for the new carillon by A.H. van Bergen.

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of miscellaneous bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.
Where the second phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Taylor bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the third phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the vanBergen bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.
Where the final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Eijsbouts bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

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

Where the bass bell of this carillon ranks among all great bells in Europe.

Index to all traditional carillons in Netherlands.

Index to all tower bell instruments in NL/Zeeland.

   This page was built from the database on 22-Jun-20
   based on textual data last updated on 2020/04/11
   and on technical data last updated on 2020/06/04