The Archive Dublin Bell Founders

The refurbishment and rehanging in a new frame in 1989 of the eight bells of St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, Australia, was an indirect compliment to the quality of Irish workmanship. The bells, with a tenor of 13.5 cwt, were cast in Dublin by Murphy's Bell Foundry to the order of Bishop Goold. They arrived in Melbourne in 1853. The bells were intended for St Francis' Church in Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, which had no tower! Eventually, in 1868, they were hung in the south tower of the cathedral. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries there were at least four founders in Dublin who cast ringing bells: John Murphy, James Sheridan, Thomas Hodges and Matthew O'Byrne.

John Murphy

John Murphy was a Coppersmith who established his business at 109 James's Street, Dublin, in 1837. In 1843 he branched-out into bell founding, casting a bell for the Roman Catholic church in Tuam in County Galway. In the years that followed Murphy cast many single bells and at least eight rings of bells.

In 1877 Murphy cast the Tenor for Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin and it is a matter of some regret that this bell was sent to Taylor's Bell Foundry in 1979 and recast. The writer called a quarter peal of Grandsire Triples on the back eight in 1967 and, apart from the go of the bells, enjoyed their music. The Murphy bell weighed 36 cwts and was in B, whereas the Taylor bell that replaced it weighs just over 45 cwts and is also in B.

Many of Murphy's bells were thinner in profile than bells cast by other founders and intended for ringing, but that did not prevent Murphy bells being awarded prizes at the Dublin and London Exhibitions and First Prize in 1900 at the Paris Exhibition.

Rings of bells by Murphy included those for Melbourne in Australia, St Thomas the Apostle in Douglas in the Isle of Man, St Mary's R. C. cathedral in Cork, the fine-spired Church of the Immaculate Conception in Wexford, Mount St Alphonsus' Monastery in Limerick, Thurles cathedral in County Tipperary, St Nicholas' in Cork and Ss Augustine and John in Dublin.

The bells for Douglas were cast in 1852 and are mentioned in Ranald Clouston's (1986) book entitled Manx Bells. They were destroyed by fire in 1912 and were replaced by a chime cast by Taylors.

For Wexford Murphy cast a tenor in 1858 and another eight bells in 1882, producing an octave with a flat second. These bells were recast and augmented to ten by Gillett and Johnston in 1930 and are now a magnificent 31 cwt ring in D. What the Murphy bells sounded like is not recorded.

The bells of the Cathedral of the Assumption, Thurles, were cast in 1867 and have a tenor of 57" diameter at the mouth that is reputed to weigh 31.75 cwts. They hang, anticlockwise, in a wooden frame with ringing fittings, but have not been rung for many years. According to Fred Dukes they are presently unringable.

The architect of the Cathedral, which was completed in 1872, was James Joseph McCarthy (1817-82). He has been called 'The Irish Pugin', but he does not seem to have understood the interactions of ringing bells and towers. The bells were hung far too high in a detached stone tower that was pierced with windows and louvres and they may well be too heavy for the tower, for ringing purposes, at least in their present position. They sound impressive when chimed.

In 1869 Murphy cast an octave with a tenor of about 18 cwts for St Nicholas' Church in Cork. The bells hang at two levels in a timber frame and were rung between the 1870s and 1920s. They were rehung in 1875 by a Mr Yorke of Bristol and then "opened" by the band from Waterford Cathedral who had, in 1872, rung the first peal in Ireland. Whether that band scored a peal on their visit to St Nicholas' is not known, although they rang for a long time. The bells are out of tune with each other, sounding F#, E, D, C, A, Ab, F#, E.

The Murphy bells at St Mary's Cathedral in Cork are an octave plus a flat second. They were cast in 1870, by which time John Murphy was based at 15, Thomas Street, Dublin. The bells hang in a timber frame and, due to the installation of pipes through the frame, are no longer ringable. The tenor is of 57.5" diameter and Fred Dukes speculated that it might weigh about 32 cwts. It is a great shame that these bells are no longer rung: at present they are chimed.

Murphy's cast another ring in 1872, for the Augustinian Church of Ss Augustine and John, near the Guiness Brewery in Dublin. The church was designed in 1862 by E. W. Pugin (the son of Augustus Pugin) and George Ashlin (1837-1921), and has a fine tower above an impressive west window. The tenor, of 53.75" in diameter at the mouth, weighs 27 cwts and is in Db. The bells were hung anticlockwise and two trebles, cast by Charles Carr Ltd of Smethwick, were added in 1898. The writer remembers these bells as musically interesting when he called a quarter peal on the front six in 1967. In 1989 all the bells were sent to Taylors' for removal of canons, retuning and new fittings. They were rehung later that year and are rung regularly.

In 1878 Murphy cast nine bells, an octave plus a flat second, for Mount St Alphonsus' in Limerick. The tenor, in C#, weighed 26 cwts and was 54" in diameter. According to Jennings, a Taylor bell of the same diameter and of the same period would have weighed about 30 cwts, although a Mears and Stainbank bell of that time would have been approximately the same weight as the Murphy bell. The Murphy bells were last rung on 28 April 1947 and were then sent to Taylor's for recasting and augmentation into a fine ring of ten, with an extra semi-tone bell hung dead for chiming.

John Murphy, who had founded the business, died in 1875. His son, John J. Murphy, then ran the foundry until it eventually closed. John J. died in 1948. In 1885 Matthew O'Byrne, who ran a foundry in James's Street in Dublin, persuaded James Gaskin to join him. Gaskin had been the bell-maker at Murphy's. Thereafter the Murphy Bell Foundry declined. According to Fred Dukes the last dated bell traceable to Murphy's was cast in 1900.

James Sheridan and the Eagle Foundry

Another Dublin bell founder was James Sheridan who, in 1809, was listed as an Ironfounder of Church Street, Dublin. By 1826 he occupied premises that had previously been those of earlier bell founders: the Poundens. John Pounden had cast a bell in 1755 for Killucan, in the County of Meath. In 1761 John was joined in business by Samuel Onge. The partnership was short-lived and various members of the Pounden family continued the foundry in Church Street until 1811. Between 1783 and 1788 John Pounden was in partnership with John Heaviside and one of their bells, cast in June 1783, is still in The Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin.

In the 1840s James Sheridan began to cast bells. His foundry was known as The Eagle Foundry. In 1846 he cast six bells for St Paul's Church, Arran Quay, Dublin. This church was designed by Patrick Byrne (1783-1864) and was built between 1835 and 1842. Surprisingly, in view of the disasters of the Potato Famine during the years 1845-48, as a result of which the 1851 population of Ireland was some two million people less than the estimated population in 1845, and the "ramshackle economy" of Ireland had been devastated, Sheridan added two trebles in 1849. These bells were hung for ringing until 1950, when they were rehung as a chime by The Fountain Head Bell Foundry, which had been established by Matthew O'Byrne. The bells were markedly discordant: Fb, Fb, D, C, A#, Ab, Gb,F, and appear never to have been tuned.

Sheridan bells normally carried fine decorations, such as an Irish harp surmounted by a coronet above shamrocks. One of their bells, cast in 1856 for Castlelost in County Meath, is beautifully decorated above the moulding wires that encircle the bell just above the soundbow as well as carrying a harp and other decorations at mid-waist.

The Freeman's Journal of 17 December 1843 records that Sheridan bells were exported to India, the West Indies, and to Great Britain. In 1859, however, Thomas and George Sheridan took over from their father and the hey-day of the Sheridans as bell founders drew to a close. Bells continued to be cast until 1888, when the Byrne Bell Foundry of James's Street in Dublin took over bell casting for the Sheridans. A bell cast by Thomas Sheridan and Co in 1875 still hangs at Glenfinnan, in the Highlands of Scotland. Unlike James, his sons did not venture to cast rings of bells and the only Sheridan ring was apparently that of St Paul's, Arran Quay.