Distribution of chimes and peals
in the minor countries of Europe
and the North Atlantic
The two grids on this page display graphically the distribution of chimes and peals
in the minor countries of Europe and the North Atlantic (i.e., excluding BE, DE, DK, FR, NL and the British Isles)
according to the weight/pitch of either the heaviest or the lightest bell and the number of bells in each instrument.
Both grids are laid out as follows:
- Each column (except the last two to four) represents all instruments having a particular
weight/pitch for either the bass bell (first grid) or the treble bell (second grid);
a code number for each pitch is in the label row across the tops of the columns.
NOTE: Above the label row is a row with some pitch names corresponding to pitch codes;
that row is not present in hardcopy versions of these grids.
A more detailed explanation of pitch/weight codes can be found here.
- If there is a column headed "HI", it represents all instruments having higher pitches
that could not be accomodated within the maximum width of the grid.
- If there is a column headed "99", it represents all instruments having an unknown bass/treble pitch.
NOTE: Once all these unknown values are discovered, this column will disappear,
allowing one more pitch code column to be shown.
That might also eliminate the need for a "HI" column.
- The column headed "TOT" gives a count of the number of instruments on each row, i.e., of a given size.
- Each row represents all instruments having a particular number of bells;
that number is found in the rightmost column, under the heading "NR".
- To aid visual alignment, there are horizontal and vertical lines of dots, generally spaced one octave apart.
- At the intersection of each column and row, there is a number representing how many instruments have
that particular combination of bass/treble pitch and number of bells.
If that number is zero, it is blanked out unless it lies between two non-zero numbers in the same row.
- Immediately after each grid, there is a line which gives the average number of bells for all the instruments plotted,
as well as the average weight/pitch code; the location of this average is plotted on the grid as an asterisk (*).
Also shown on this line are the minimum (min) and maximum (max) pitch codes, which sometimes lie outside the visible grid.
NOTE: For the Web, this line has been edited to show the note value corresponding to each pitch code.
These note values are not present in hardcopy versions of these grids.
Plot of site counts: Bourdon Weight Code (across) versus Number of Bells (up)
C0 C1 C2 C3 ??
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 HI 99 TOT NR
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 23
. 1 . . . 1 2 22
. . . . 1 1 21
. . 1. 0 0 0 0 1 . 4 6 20
. . 1 . . 2 3 19
. . 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1. 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 4. 0 0 0 1 8 18 18
. . . . 2 2 17
. . 1 2. 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1. 1 7 16
1. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0. 0 2 0 1 1 . 5 15
. 1 0 0. 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1. 1 4 14
. . 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1. . 2 5 13
. 2. 0 0 1 0 0 0 1+ 0 0 0 0 5. 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 1. 9 27 12
. 2 0 0 0 0. 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1. 0 0 1 . 5 11 11
. 4 2 2. 6 2 1 . . 2 19 10
. 1 1 0 2 1 1 3 9. 5 3 2 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1. 3 36 9
. . . . . . . 1. 0. 1. 2. 0. 2. 2. 0. 1. 1. 2. 1. 0. 0. 0. 1. 0. 2. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 1. 0. 0. 0. 1. 5 23 8
+ Average chime: 12 bells, bourdon code 20 = G1 (min 1 = C0, max 42 = F3), based on 169 instruments with 46 unknowns
NOTE: The two plots on this page can be expected to have the following similarities and differences:
- Similarities:
- The number of rows should be identical, and they should be identically numbered in the NR column.
- The TOT counts on matching rows should be identical.
- The general "shape" of the plotted data should be roughly similar.
- Differences:
- The range of column headings will start and end at a much higher point for the trebles--at least 12 higher,
and probably more.
- The counts of unknown trebles (column 99) will sometimes be higher than the counts of unknown basses,
because of an unknown number of missing semitones above a known bass note.
- On a given row, the distributions of known trebles and known basses will probably differ
because of variations in the number of missing semitones.
- The shape of the bourdon plot tends to tilt to the left, because larger instruments tend to
be both heavier in the bass and lighter in the treble compared to smaller ones.
Plot of site counts: Treble Weight Code (across) versus Number of Bells (up)
C1 C2 C3 C4 ??
L 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 99 TOT NR
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 23
. . . . 2 2 22
. . . . 1 1 21
. . . 1. 5 6 20
. . . . 3 3 19
. . 1 0 0. 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 . 14 18 18
. . . . 2 2 17
. . . 1 0 1 0 1 . 4 7 16
. . . 1 0 0 0 1 . 3 5 15
. . . . 1 3 4 14
. . 1 . . 4 5 13
. . . + 1 . 26 27 12
. . 1 0 0 0. 0 0 0 0 0 1 . 9 11 11
. 1 . . . 18 19 10
. 1 0 0 2 0 0. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0. 1 32 36 9
. . . . . . 1. 0. 0. 1. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 1. 1. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 1.18 23 8
+ Average chime: 12 bells, treble code 38 = C#3 (min 19 = F#1, max 53 = E4), based on 169 instruments with 144 unknowns
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This summary page was built from the database on 31-May-20 and last revised 9-Feb-23.
Please send comments or questions about this page to
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