*Location:

   St.John's Kirk
   (St.John the Baptist Church)
   St.John Street at St.John's Place
   Perth, Central (Perthshire), Scotland
   OS Ref. NO 119 235
   LL: N 56.39586, W 3.42812

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

*Carillonist:

   Dr. Ian Cassells

   John R. Knox (1932-2021)

*Contact:

   Rev. David D. Ogston
   Kirk House
   31 St.John Street
   Perth, Tayside  PH1 5SH
   T: Perth (01738)638482
   - or at -
   Manse of St.John's Kirk
   15 Comely Bank
   Perth, Tayside  PH2 7HU
   T: (01738)621755
   - or -
   Mr. Alexander Gray, Beadle
   22 St.John Street
   T: 738/23358

*Schedule:

   (special occasions as specified by
   the Perth Council)

*Remarks:

   Clock has barrels for both Guildford
   and Cambridge quarters.  Independent
   clappers for electro-pneumatic auto-
   matic player.
   Bourdon by Peter Waghevens of
   Mechelen, 1506, swings full circle.
   Maker of previous instrument unknown.
   Maintenance by city.
   An independent automatic action was
   installed by the firm of Ritchie (now
   defunct), but is unsatisfactory.
   Also 5 bells by Waghevens, 1526, among
   15 on display rack in north porch,
   and 13 disused chiming bells in north
   gable of spire.
   2021: Taylor updated & restored
   autoplay hammers and controls,
   inoperable since 1991 at least.
   2022: Taylor cleaning & repainting
   frame, and restoring transmission from
   clavier.

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 35 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is D  in the middle octave
   Keyboard range:     C C   /    C C 11
   Transposition is up  2 semitone(s), i.e., from C to D 
   There are two missing bass semitones
   There is no practice console
   34 bells were recast or replaced in 1935
     by Gillett & Johnston
   Prior history:
     Previously, the complete instrument of 35 bells was installed
       with bells made by an unknown maker
   Auxiliary mechanisms: Q4ER1 
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 1992

The church Website has a photo of the building, as well as an extensive page about all its bells.

The Presbytery Website has a page for this church, with a clickable photo of the building.

British Carillon Society page, with 4 photos

Taylor's project page describes their current (2022) and previous work.

A travel page about the church includes a good photo of the building, showing the tower and its stair turret.  Elsewhere on the page is another photo of the building, a photo of some carillon bells, and a photo of the keyboard room (unfortunately none of these have larger versions).

Ranald Clouston's report on the bells, published in the Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 124 (1994), pp 525-541, is a 1.6MB download.  It covers all 63 bells in this building, which is the largest assemblage in the British Isles.

Video recording (2:05) of the carillon

Stock photo of the spire gable that holds the disused old chime, in the evening.  Scroll down for more photos of the building.
Day photo, with all 12 bells visible

Where the final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Gillett & Johnston 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.

Index to all traditional carillons in this region.

Index to all tower bell instruments in Scotland.

   This page was built from the database on 14-Oct-24
   based on textual data last updated on 2022/09/09
   and on technical data last updated on 2014/08/05