*Location:

   Town belfry
   Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste
     (St.John's Church)
   Place du Marché aux chevaux
   (at city center)
   Bourbourg (Brockburg, Broeksburg),
     Nord, France
   LL: N 50.94660, E 2.19686

Site locator map
City locator maps and gazetteer page

*Carillonist:

   Jacques Martel
   E: jacques.martel/@/ bbox DOTfr
   - and -
   Aldo Specque
   E: aldo.specque/@/wanadoo DOTfr

   1930-40 Moses Marcant

*Contact:

   (unknown)

*Schedule:

   Tuesdays, 1030-1100.
   Tunes at the quarter hours

*Remarks:

   Carillon of 1868, by André Louis Jean
   van Aerschodt, destroyed by fire on
   25 May 40 (in WW II), along with 2
   swinging bells by Michel Leenknecht
   of Bruges, cast in 1429.

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 50 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is A# in the middle octave
   Keyboard range:     A#C   /    A#G   
   Transposition is up one octave
   There is one missing bass semitone
   The presence or absence of a practice console is unknown
   The whole instrument was installed in 2008
     with bells made by Paccard          
   Prior history:
     In 1963, a complete instrument of 37 bells was installed
       by Bollée
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
       Pitch of heaviest bell was C  in the treble octave
       There were no missing bass semitones
     In 1868, a complete instrument of 37 bells was installed
       by vanAerschodt
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
       Pitch of heaviest bell was F  in the middle octave
     In 1722, a complete instrument of 23 bells was installed
       by an unknown maker
       (0 bells remain from that work.)
       Pitch of heaviest bell was unknown
   No auxiliary mechanisms known
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2013

The GCF page about this carillon has a description and two photos, but the keyboard ranges do not match the photo.  The photos are not clickable, but they can be opened for larger versions.

The Paccard page about the 2008 project has photos of the tower, lantern and bells, but does not mention the Bollée phase.

Photos of the building

The ARPAC Website (archived 2019) presents much more detail than we can here, though it is all in French.

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of unknown bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.
Where the second stage of this work lies in the sequence of output of the vanAerschodt bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the third phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Bollée bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the final stage of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Paccard bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

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

Index to all traditional carillons in France.

Index to all tower bell instruments in France/Nord.

   This page was built from the database on  2-Mar-25
   based on textual data last updated on 2025/02/02
   and on technical data last updated on 2024/01/12