Traditional carillons in the British Isles:
index by weight (pitch)

The table below is an index to the 16 traditional carillons in the British Isles (including Ireland), in order by the pitch of the bourdon (heaviest bell of the main keyboard range).  Instruments with the same bourdon pitch are in descending order by number of bells, then by missing semitones, then by state.  The key to the four column headings is at the end of the table, along with some other notes. 
    Location (City : Country)              Note  Chr  Nr  Transp
bourdon in the bass octave (20000 to 3000 kg) - 6 instruments
ABERDEEN - STN                : SCOTLAND-AB  G#   Y   48   -4
LOUGHBOROUGH - WM             : ENGLAND -LE  G#   X   47   -4
SAINT HELENS                  : ENGLAND -LA  G#   X   47   -4
COBH                          : IRELAND -CK  A    Z   49   -3
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE - CC      : ENGLAND -NM  A    Z   25   -3
BOURNVILLE                    : ENGLAND -WO  A#   Y   48   -2
bourdon in the middle octave (2500 to 300 kg) - 10 instruments
ARMAGH                        : N IRELAND-R  C    X   39    2
SAINT ANDREWS                 : SCOTLAND-FI  C#   X   27    1
LOUGHBOROUGH - TF             : ENGLAND -LE  D    -   47    - 
PERTH                         : SCOTLAND-PR  D    X   35    2
YORK                          : ENGLAND -YO  D    X   35    2
GODALMING                     : ENGLAND -SR  E    Z   37    4
DUMBARTON                     : SCOTLAND-DB  F#   X   23    6
SALTLEY                       : ENGLAND -WA  F#   X   23    6
KILMARNOCK                    : SCOTLAND-AY  G    X   30    7
LONDON - A                    : ENGLAND -W   G    X   23    7
bourdon in the treble octave (250 to 60 kg) - 0 instruments
 [none known]
weight unknown - 1 instrument
 [none known]

Key to column headings:

Note
pitch of the bourdon (bass bell) of the carillon. (In rare instances there may be a heavier sub-bourdon bell; see below.)

Chr
chromatics indicator:
Z = fully chromatic (no missing semitones)
Y = missing one semitone in the bass (typically keyboard C# or B)
X = missing two semitones in the bass (typically keyboard C#,D# or B,C#)
- = unknown

Nr
number of bells (notes) in the carillon.

Transp
transposition from the keyboard notes to the pitches of the corresponding bells, in semitones.  (Thus the number "12" reflects transposition upward one octave, while "-3" reflects transposition downward by a minor third.)

Notes:

The table is sorted first on the pitch of the bass bell, then on the number of bells, then on the chromatics indicator, then on city.  The actual weight of the bass bell is not used.

The weight range indicators for each octave are only gross approximations, and should not be taken to represent any specific bell.

Return to Indexes to traditional carillons in the British Isles.

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This page was created 2005/09/29 and last revised 2021/11/20.

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