*Location:

   St.Mary's, Lowe House, RC Church
   North Road at Crab Street
   St.Helens, Lancashire, England
   OS Ref. SJ 509 958
   LL: N 53.45712, W 2.73991

Site locator map
City locator maps and gazetteer page (County is wrong; other data are correct.)

*Carillonist:

   Anthony (Tony) Brookes

   19??-?? Eva Garner   (d.)

*Contact:

   Msgr. Vincent Hughes, Parish Priest
   T: 744/22167
   - or -
   Christine Currah
   T: 744/37257
   - or -
   The Carillon
   Lowe House Heritage & Development Group
   Crab Street
   St.Helens  WA10 2BE
   (or c/o Holy Cross Presbytery
    Corporation Street
    St.Helens  WA10 1EF)
   F: 01744/23416
   E: info/@/stmaryslowehouse.org
      stmaryandstthomas/@/rcaolp.co.uk
   - or -
   Webform @ stmaryslowehouse.org

*Schedule:

   Sundays before 4pm service,
   and special occasions.
   Quarter-tune is part of "Salve Regina"
   on 8 bells (unique in the UK).

*Remarks:

   Restoration in progress in 2005,
   by Hayward Mills, with new clappers and
   direct action transmission.

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 47 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is G# in the bass octave
   Keyboard range:     C C   /    C C 23
   Transposition is down 4 semitone(s), i.e., from C to G#
   There are two missing bass semitones
   There is an identical practice console
   The whole instrument was installed in 1929
     with bells made by Taylor           
   Auxiliary mechanisms: M9QA  
   Tower details: 
     Height of console:                 30 meters above ground
     Height of lowest level of bells:   35 meters above ground
     Height of highest level of bells:  41 meters above ground
     Belfry openness:  45%
   Year of latest technical information source is 1979

The church Website opens with a photo of the building and tower.  There is a text page about the carillon, but it is difficult to read because of pale orange text on a white background; also note that both photos of the bells are distorted, in opposite directions! 
There is an aerial video (4:14) of the building, and the History page has a gallery of clickable photos of the carillon.

British Carillon Society page, with 4 photos (all taken after the recent restoration)

Set of 98 photos from Hayward Mills Ltd covering the 2006 renovation of the carillon of St.Helens.  There is no annotation of the photos, and no particular organization of them within the set.  But it is clear that many of them show work in progress during the project.  "The carillon of 47 bells thoroughly overhauled.  A new top frame provided for the 17 smallest bells, a new scientifically designed direct-action transmission and new clappers fitted."

Where this work lies in the sequence of output of the Taylor bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

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

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

Index to all traditional carillons in this region.

Index to all tower bell instruments in England.

   This page was built from the database on 29-Dec-24
   based on textual data last updated on 2024/12/22
   and on technical data last updated on 1991/11/21