The Blake Bells of Channing

In an apparent Christmas gesture to Channing Memorial Church, the year after it welcomed its first congregation, member Mrs. Alfred Smith donated a set of chimes, which were installed in our steeple on December 25, 1881. The dedication was to her husband, Alfred Smith, who gained fame and fortune as a principal developer of seashore land that became Ocean Drive. The nine-bell set of chimes rang a large repertoire of canonical and secular peals during each of the next one hundred and twenty years, until the weakened steeple could no longer support the vibration and movement of bells and bell ringers. There are many members of our congregation who remember the bells' songs, and several have acted as bell ringers, but for the last several years the bells have been silent.

The William Blake Foundry, of Boston, also known as the Hooper-Blake Foundry, cast our bells and completed the installation, as it had for a large number of New England churches since the early 19th Century. Cambridge, Newton, Charlestown (MA), Amherst, Lawrence, Haverhill, and Providence have Blake bells in their churches, but the Arlington St. U-U Church in Boston and First Parish in Fitchburg MA are the only other Unitarian-Universalist churches to be so honored.

William Blake (no relation to the poet) worked in the Paul Revere Foundry in Boston, with Paul Revere 3rd, before joining with Henry Hooper in the 1830s. Their expertise in brass casting led to their prominent role in the manufacture of cannon that were used in the Civil War. One of the big guns, a nine-pound "Napoleon", was a Rhode Island artillery piece fired at rebel lines during Pickett's Charge in the Battle of Gettysburg. The cannon was itself struck by a ball fired by Southern forces, killing its crew and damaging its barrel, so it could no longer be loaded. It is in the entrance of the State Capitol in Providence. The company also made castings for light-houses as far away as Texas.

In the post-Civil War period, the Blake Foundry continued to produce bells for churches mostly in the Northeast, but also in California, and other brass items until the end of the century, after which little is known of the company.

The Channing Chime consists of nine bells, comprising a scale beginning with an E tone and containing several semitones, or sharps, on the way up the scale to the next E. There is a large collection of standard and original peals gathered and composed by bell ringers of past generations. This music, as well as the ears of our congregation and its neighbors, will have to wait for the reconstruction of our steeple. Keep in your minds the value the chimes have added to our community for over a century, as we will ask for your ideas and support in efforts to repair our damaged steeple and refurbish our bells, which will be costly, but thrilling.

Let our theme be "So The Bells Will Ring Again!"

Dennis Greene
Property Committee