*Location:

   Northeast tower
   Sacred Heart Basilica Church
   Craigie Avenue (Hilton Highway, NZ#1)
     at Heaton Street
   Timaru, South Island, New Zealand
   LL: S 44.40165, E 171.24774

   Iron spiral stair from choir
   loft in southeast tower to open
   walkway behind front parapet.

Site locator map
City locator maps and gazetteer page

*Player:

   (unknown)

*Contact:

   Holy Family Parish
   7 Craig Avenue
   Parkside
   Timaru 7910
   T: (03)684-4263   F: (03)684-4393
   E: parishoffice@holyfamilytimaru.org.nz

*Schedule:

   (unknown)

*Remarks:

   Taut-rope rack arranged for tune-
   playing, not change-ringing.
   2019: Bells to be removed during
   earthquake strengthening, then rehung on
   new frame.

*Technical data:

   Chime with Ellacombe stand of  8 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is E  in the middle octave
   Transposition is up  4 semitone(s)
   Keyboard range:     C C   /    NONE  
   There are no added semitones
   The whole instrument was installed in 1914
     with bells made by Warner      
   Auxiliary mechanisms: nEnI  
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2019

The Website of the Basilica has a page about the bell tower, including a photo of the taut-rope chiming rack, arranged in musical order (lowest on left, labelled C-C), and bearing an original nameplate from John Warner & Sons.  There are two short videos of the bells being played.

A RootsWeb page about the building has many historic details and photos.
Alternate URL for what may be the same page.

The Wikipedia article about the building has a photo of it and a paragraph about the bells.

An Archdiocesan page has contact information and a building photo, but its locator map is for a different building (possibly the parish office).  There is a small photo of the building, with a link to a page of additional photos; the sign which asserts that the Basilica was built in 1911 must be in error, because there is a history page which asserts that it opened in 1905.

News article (Mar'19) on project for strengthening Sacred Heart Basilica against earthquakes reports that "The eight bells in the bell tower weigh eight tonnes."

Where this work lies in the sequence of output of the Warner bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

Ranking among all Asia and the Pacific Rim chimes by pitch (weight).
Ranking among all Asia and the Pacific Rim chimes by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all Asia and the Pacific Rim chimes by year of completion.

Index to all tower bell instruments in New Zealand.

   This page was built from the database on 11-Apr-20
   based on textual data last updated on 2020/04/11
   and on technical data last updated on 2019/03/03