*Location:

   Channing Memorial Church (UU)
   Pelham Street at Touro Park
   Newport, Rhode Island, USA
   LL: N 41.48541, W 71.31021

Site locator map

*Player:

   (unknown)

   c.1901 G. Oman

*Contact:

   Channing Memorial Church
   135 Pelham Street
   Newport, RI  02840-3131
   T: 401-846-0643
   E: office@channingchurch.org
   - or -
   Janet Grant, Music Director
   E: music@channingchurch.org
   - or -
   Christine
   E: cwariel1@cox.net

*Schedule:

   (unknown)

*Remarks:

   Original bells given by Mr. & Mrs.
   Alfred Smith, with added semitone of flat
   7th and swinging tenor atop bellframe.
   Old bells reconditioned by Eijsbouts,
   who added sharp 4th; local work by
   Chime Masters, who converted original
   taut-rope rack to baton keyboard
   with space for 3 more bells.  Bells for
   second expansion cast in 2014, but
   installation was delayed until 2019
   by structural issues in the tower.
   Final added semitones are sharp octave
   and sharp 9th.

*Technical data:

   Traditional chime (baton keyboard) of 17 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is E  in the middle octave
   Transposition is up  4 semitone(s)
   Keyboard range:     C A   /    NONE  
   There are four added semitones
   The presence or absence of a practice console is unknown
   The instrument was enlarged in 2019
     with bells made by Eijsbouts in 2014 
   Prior history:
     In 2009, the instrument was enlarged to 10 bells
       by Eijsbouts   
       Keyboard range was:     C C 13/    NONE  
       There were two added semitones
     In 1881, the instrument was begun with  9 bells
       by Hooper/Blake
       Transposition was nil (concert pitch)
       Keyboard range was:     E E   /    NONE  
       There was one added semitone
   No auxiliary mechanisms known
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2020

The church Website opens with a fine aerial perspective view of the church and its stone-spired tower.  But there is no longer any information about the bells.

YouTube video (6:55) on the return of refurbished bells to the church.

Church Specialties LLC was also involved with the expansion project.

An 1881 newspaper clipping from the Boston Evening Transcript reports that the donor intended 16 bells, but the belfry would only accommodate 9.  (The expansions in the early 21st century demonstrate that such a limit must have been based on Blake's methods of hanging bells.) 
A subsequent clipping from the same paper has the specifications of the bells, plus more general information about other bells.

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Hooper/Blake bellfoundry.
Where the second phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Eijsbouts bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the second phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Eijsbouts bellfoundry, 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 RI.

   This page was built from the database on  4-Nov-23
   based on textual data last updated on 2022/01/08
   and on technical data last updated on 2020/06/22