Help: Editing bell details
If you know for certain that the listed bell details are incomplete or incorrect, use the Edit details
link above the table of bells. This will bring up an editing table, which this page explains. Please also see our general help page on bell details.
By submitting details to us, you agree that, to the best of your knowledge, the data in your submission is free from restriction on further publication. If this is not the case, you must indicate this clearly in your submission, and the relevant parts of your submission will not be included in Dove while that restriction remains in place.
Once accepted into Dove, your data may be retained indefinitely in the Dove database, and may be made available for third-party use under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License or included in future printed versions of Dove’s Guide. Copies of all submissions and communications are normally kept for data audit purposes.
If a cell within the editing table shows ???
this indicates that this particular value is not yet in our records. Clicking it opens a dialogue box so that you can provide the necessary value. Similarly, clicking on a value opens up the ability to provide a correction. Missing bells can be added using the Add new bell
link.
You can make a single entry for certain fields which show no value upon starting but are likely to contain the same information (viz: year of casting, bellfounder, and information about canons) and have that supplied value replicated throughout. This is designed to simplify the input process.
Please let us know in the Source
box when you are drawiing on the research of others, for example by identfying the person or quoting the page numbers of a published work. We'll get back to you if we have any questions.
Click on a heading below for help on a particular subject.
When supplying data, please take your time to check that the submission is as correct and comprehensive as it can be. We'd much rather be given too much detail than not enough. This saves everyone time and avoids the risk of us duplicating research you’ve already done. Similarly, if you know other people with more information, please ask them to supply the information to us directly if possible, or at least let us know the information may be available.
Please be careful only to submit information about which you are totally confident. Making assumptions, for example, about whether a bell has a flat head or still has its canons is not helpful to the person relying absolutely on your data. It is preferable to leave a table cell blank than it is to make a guess, however inspired you think that guess might be.
Each item of your data will be noted (and stored on your own computer) as you press Apply and the table display will be updated as indicated by a change in colour in the relevant table cell. Until you press the 'Submit' button on the final screen - the one in which you can make any comment, and on which it is helpful to everyone if you indicate the source of your data - every edit can be abandoned simply by navigating away from the page, possibly by using the links provided.
When you press the Submit button, your changes will be sent to the Dove Team, together with your comments, and you'll be sent a confirmation email. If you do not receive that confirmatory email fairly quickly, it is probable that the email address you supplied for yourself is incorrect. If that is so, not only will the confirmation not reach you but neither will we be able to get back to you!
Your data and any comments you have provided will be considered, and (where appropriate) compared with the Church Buildings Council database of bells of historic significance. This part of the process can take some time, especially when our volunteers are on holiday. If necessary, we may get back to you with questions.
Enter the weight in cwt-qr-lb. If you do not have a precise weight, tick the 'approximate' box, and enter the approximate weight in hundredweight, using decimal format for any fractional part (e.g. 7.25). Bell weights can only be entered using imperial units.
Sometimes, the only weight available is from before the removal of canons. These are shown using the <
prefix in the tower details page, but cannot currently be entered in the submission form. Enter it as a precise weight here but add a comment before pressing the final submit button.
Enter the frequency of this bell's nominal in hertz (Hz).
Please do not attempt to offer a corrected value for a nominal which differs by only a small amount from the value already showing. Any such amendment will be rejected unless the accompanying comment gives sufficient justification for making the change. A bell's nominal frequency is temperature dependent and, moreover, a small change in frequency usually results in a very small and an inconsequential change in the number of cents away from its nearest note value.
The bell's note will be determined from the nominal and by comparing the result with the keynote of the ring (normally as represented by the tenor), so notes cannot be edited. If you believe that we are showing an incorrect note, please email us.
The diameter of the bell at its mouth should be expressed in inches and to two decimal places if necessary.
We discourage very small changes to the diameter, except when it represents an official, up-to-date version supplied recently by a bell hanger or founder. Small changes in diameter may indeed occur when a bell has been retuned. Changes in diameter of less than 1.5% are usually ignored: if you feel that there is good reason for your values not to be ignored, please specifically draw our attention to that reason by stating it in your supporting comments.
To tell us that a bell is cracked or broken, or subsequently has been welded, please mention this in the accompanying comments or an email.
Enter the year of casting if it is known exactly. Where it is known only approximately make sure the box is ticked and use the following conventions:
- if the founder is known with a strong degree of certainty (for more about the founder, see below), then enter his latest year of casting;
- if the founder has not been identified but an approximate date for the bell has been postulated from other evidence, then use that date;
- if the founder has not been identified but an approximate century has been postulated from other evidence, then use the date of the final year of that century (eg: 1499).
Please note our convention with respect to dates that are subsequently incised on a bell.
If several (or all) bells were cast at the same time, the value you supply can be entered in all cells currently shown in the Cast column as ??? by ticking the "apply to all bells with this field empty" box. If the bell shows no casting date and no estimate has been made for it (by reference to other indicators such as the lettering, a shield, moulding wires, a distinctive shape), then please add a comment to that effect at the end.
In the unusual case of a bell bearing an inscription which shows a casting year and it is known for certain that it was in fact cast in another year, then please enter the inscribed year of casting and elaborate on the issue within the comments section. We will then make a database comment to that effect.
Founders whose work is already represented within the database are presented in a drop-down list.
The casting periods shown in our list should be treated as indicative rather than definitive (see under Founder in the Bell Details Help file). Note that there may well be more than one appearance of a generic name (eg, Taylor, or Mears) because at different times any one foundry may have traded under slightly different names. The periods in which the foundry operated under the given name are presented within the detail in this drop-down list, along with their location(s). Do be careful to make the appropriate selection in such circumstances (and if there is incompatibility with the casting date supplied for any given bell, it will be the presentation of the founder's name that we will amend so as to achieve consistency).
If the founder is not listed, then leave this field blank and add a comment indicating as much detail as possible regarding the founder's identity and their place(s) of casting. If possible a definitive reference (such as CB Barsetshire, p999) is helpful.
We follow the convention that it is the founder and date shown on the bell itself that are recorded even if it is known that they are incorrect – in such a case, please follow the convention and let us have further details in the comments because we keep this information within our database.
If several (or all) bells were cast by the same founder, the name you choose can be entered in all Founder cells currently shown as ??? by ticking the "apply to all bells with this field empty" box.
These are encoded with a single letter, as described on the help page. If the bell's crown does not match any of these classifications, then please explain your dilemma in the comments box provided.
If the canons of several (or all) bells fall into the same classification, the letter you choose can be entered in all Canons cells currently shown as ??? by ticking the "apply to all bells with this field empty" box.
A bell cast in 1980 or later without any indication of canon type is usually entered into the Dove bell record as 'Flat' as that is the modern practice - so if, for some reason, the modern practice has not been followed, please be certain to indicate the canon type.
We are now collecting the turning that has been applied to a bell. These are encoded with a single letter, as described on the help page.
If the amount is unknown but it is certain that the bell actually has been turned, then please use the Y value. Where no turning is shown and the bell is less than 30 years old, it can reasonably be inferred that no turning has yet taken place.
Provision is made for additional rows of null values for all parameters for bells over and above the number that are already showing. If the bell has a particular description ("Angelus", "Bourdon", "Clock", "Curfew", "Disused", "Fire", "Priest's", "Sanctus", "Service" are all terms currently provided for, as well as 0, 2#, and 6b), then please provide it in the accompanying comment giving some distinctive parameter by which this particular bell can be identified if there is more than one. "Accidentals" should be obvious from their weight and nominal, but if there is the slightest chance of ambiguity, please indicate which is which in a similar way.
The data rows for additional bells can be deleted in their entirety if it is so desired, before they have been submitted, whether or not they have been 'edited' and 'applied'. Provision is also made for abandoning the whole editing process and reverting to the current Dove entry.
Select the frame which contains the bell from the drop-down list.
If the frame is not listed, or if you want to supply further information on the frames that are listed, please email us or tell us in the comments section of a submission.
For further information, see our help page on frames.
If you feel there is some information which should be shown – or indeed would be useful to be kept in the database record even if not likely to be visible on the details page – and do not find a place for submitting it within the editing table, then please let us know by email or add it to the comments section of a submission.
If we are showing a bell no longer present in the tower, then a simple email to that effect is sufficient, but we ask that at the same time you provide as much supporting information as possible (for example, the rationale for its disappearance together with any Ringing World reference, a precise year of the event) so that we can make our own checks on the consistency of the data that we show.