The Burford Branch

Tell us about your layout, where you put it, how you built it, how you operate it.
bécasse
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby bécasse » Sun Nov 27, 2022 8:45 pm

I actually managed to annoy Jerry Clifford by politely suggesting that the buildings on his exquisite 2FS model of Bath Green Park set in the 1920s were far too clean and should be "sooted", so it seems to be a common blind spot as I wouldn't have raised the issue without having checked with contemporary photographs. In fact, one of my everlasting memories of my undergraduate days in Oxford in the mid-1960s (apart from the appalling traffic jams) was the way in which seemingly so many colleges were clad in wet plastic sheeting while they were being washed down to remove the encrusted grime.

Reproducing the same effect myself, I use a soft lady's make-up brush to apply a dusting of black powder poster paint (of which I still have a large tin dating from a project in the 1960s!) and then let down the effect by applying a second dusting using a light grey powder paint (also dating from the 1960s). The dusted powder paint seems to cling to models without needing any added protection from matt varnish but I am careful to minimise handling after it has been done.

martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Mon Nov 28, 2022 7:28 pm

I have added some fresh colour to the front wall of The Three Tuns and of the Bell Foundry, and I have now got it back to something with which I am reasonably happy.

IMG_8344.JPG

In the case of The Three Tuns, I mixed some light buff/yellow pigment and applied this to the wall surface to lighten and brighten up its appearance slightly. The Bell Foundry needed slightly more robust treatment to ‘kill’ or considerably reduce the excessive sooting that was still visible on this building. I took some Humbrol ‘Desert Sand’ enamel (93) and Matt White (34) and mixed these colours in differing quantities on the newspaper on which the model was standing, until it had half-dried. (No need to mess about with a proper palette when doing this.) I put some of this drying paint on a small brush, which was rubbed on the clean part of the newspaper to remove excess paint, before lightly dry-brushing this colour over the surface of the stonework in various combinations with a little more or less of the Matt White to achieve a varied texture. (The trick is not to apply solid colour to the model, but only to scumble the variously mixed paint across the surface.)

This dried quickly, and I finished off by brushing some of the dry light buff/yellow pigment that I had used on The Three Tuns over the surface of the stonework, except where I had decided to leave the sooting visible. Finally, I brushed some grey pigment over the sooted areas to tone them down.

IMG_8343.JPG

The final appearance of the modelled wall surfaces may not reflect the extent of the sooting that was evident in prototype photos, but it is now more or less consistent with the tonal values of other buildings on the layout, and fits better into the overall picture. After my initial dismay at the gloomy appearance of these buildings as first painted and weathered, it is reassuring that it is possible to correct the colouring with bit of effort, and it has proved to me that no paint job on a model should be completely irretrievable.

IMG_8342.JPG
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Paul Willis
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby Paul Willis » Tue Nov 29, 2022 7:37 am

Lovely buildings Martin, and I'm definitely in the "dirty" camp. But it's your layout, and Rule #1 applies :-)

Wandering around the Warley Show at the weekend, I did wonder whether you'd broken the layout free from your railway room, and brought it along to show off ;-)

IMG_6114.JPG


IMG_6119.JPG


Similar inspiration must have struck...

Best,
Paul
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Suffolk Dave
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby Suffolk Dave » Tue Nov 29, 2022 7:41 am

Of course, 'Rule 1' top trumps everything and if you want subtle weathering then go for it! :thumb I rather like the effect you created on your recent photos but I'm not sure what era you are depicting. To my eyes that would look wonderful in Victorian setting.

While I'm an advocate for weathering I do sometimes wonder if, in the drive for an authentic appearance, some folk turn the weathering knob up to 11!
Last edited by Suffolk Dave on Wed Nov 30, 2022 6:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Tue Nov 29, 2022 10:02 am

Thanks, Gents.

In response to Paul, other ‘Burfords’ are available (!) I am aware of 4 or 5 other layouts whose builders have chosen this location as their setting. It would have been extremely easy to build a line along the Windrush Valley from Witney to Burford. So railway modellers are fully justified in lighting on Burford as a setting for their layouts. However, the real schemes that were put forward between 1836 and 1904 would all have continued via Northleach and Andoversford to Cheltenham. It really is surprising that none of these lines was actually built.

In answer to Dave, the period setting of my layout was originally intended to be c.1930, but the clock has since been wound back to the early 1920s, i.e. about 100 years ago. But this won’t stop me operating some rolling stock ‘out of period’. I will try, though, to avoid stock from distinctly different periods appearing at the same time. I also recognise that running later stock on the layout will lead to some anachronisms. For example, all the roads on the layout are surfaced with crushed and rolled stone – hence their light buff colour, but by the end of the 1930s (if not earlier) they are likely to have been tarred. I really ought to plaster the cattle pens with white paint (or limewash), with white splashes on the ground under the railings, whereas I have painted the posts concrete colour and have shown the railings as rusted iron, which is more typical of the 1930s.

As I observed recently, I like to get the research right, but having established the ‘correct’ facts I then (perhaps rather perversely) feel free to depart from them if I feel like it. The restrained weathering that I prefer is an example of this. I suppose most of us tend to err on the side of too little weathering, but I fully understand that some may prefer a more gritty (or grotty?) reality.

Whichever way you look at it, it’s a hell of a lot of fun.

Philip Hall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby Philip Hall » Tue Nov 29, 2022 11:37 am

It's quite awkward when the real thing gets in the way. So being free to depart from what it ought to be like and make it like you would wish is probably the best way.

On 'Mellstock' which I tend to call a shrunk Okehampton, we are always looking to get things in the right place and in relation to one another so as to capture the spirit of the place. But shrinking it means that it actually isn't Okehampton any more, so liberties may be taken. Unfortunately it doesn't stop us being not entirely happy with said liberties! I, for example, am trying to justify to myself that a different footbridge would be OK and a lot easier and cheaper. But I'm not entirely happy about it, and my duo of helpers are telling me it just wouldn't be right at all...

Oh yes, I like your stone colour. Clean or sooty.

Philip

Terry Bendall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby Terry Bendall » Tue Nov 29, 2022 4:17 pm

martin goodall wrote:Whichever way you look at it, it’s a hell of a lot of fun.


Which is what it should be!!! :D :D :D

Some people will get their fun by trying to get things as close to a particular prototype, period and location as they can. Othere will have a different approach and get equal enjoyment. Neither should be seen as more worthy than the other.

Terry Bendall

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Suffolk Dave
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby Suffolk Dave » Wed Nov 30, 2022 6:28 pm

martin goodall wrote:I like to get the research right, but having established the ‘correct’ facts I then (perhaps rather perversely) feel free to depart from them if I feel like it.


That is such a positive approach and perfectly suited to the 'Rule 1' application. A thorough research should go hand in hand with historical railway modelling. That way it's better to know how it would have looked and then justify taking a different approach in one's own modelling.
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martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Sun Dec 11, 2022 9:44 pm

The three buildings in Station Road are being built as a group on a single combined base. For this reason, the respective buildings are being worked up together. So the next stage in this project was to work on the front wall of The Bell Inn. The prototype for this building was the original version of the Wagon & Horses in London Road, Cirencester. The picture below is a detail from an old postcard. I have reversed this image, as my model has been built as a mirror image of the prototype in order to fit it into the street scene.

Waggon & Horses (D).jpg

It was clear from this old postcard (believed to date from around World War I) that this building was lime-washed, giving it a light creamy buff colour. But I wanted my model to be tonally consistent with its two neighbours, and I painted the stonework so that it would broadly match the Bell Foundry next-door. I tried not to overdo the soot weathering in this case.

IMG_8347.JPG

IMG_8348.JPG

The windows were made by fixing glazing across the whole of each window opening, then building up the thin frames and glazing bars of the casements on this, tacking them in place with ‘Glue ‘n’ Glaze’ before brushing ‘Looks Like Glass’ over the glazing to fix everything in place.

The net curtains were made from a single ply of Kleenex tissue, painted with grey stripes on the inside to give an impression of the pattern on the curtains. The top of each curtain was wrapped round a piece of brass wire, which was fixed in place with off-cuts of styrene strip.

IMG_8346.JPG

Quite a lot of detailing remains to be added, and horizontal rebates can be seen above the door and windows for fixing the slate lintels and porch.

IMG_8350.JPG
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martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Sat Jan 14, 2023 4:08 pm

Having got rather bored before Christmas with the ongoing work on the ‘Station Road’ group of buildings, I have taken the opportunity over the past week or two to deal with some outstanding details on the Goods Shed.

IMG_8121.JPG

The original rainwater pipe on the goods office looked distinctly skinny, and when I accidentally knocked it off the wall recently, I decided to replace it with a slightly beefed up pipe, now 4½-inch diameter. The swan-neck and fixing bats are 3D-printed items from Modelu.

At the other end of the Goods Shed, I have added some fire buckets, which are hung from a bracket on the flank wall of the goods lock-up.

IMG_8391 (2).JPG

When I told friends that I was going to add lettering to the fire buckets, they thought I was mad. They presumably imagined that I would cut all the bristles except one off my finest sable brush, and then with the remaining bristle and a very powerful magnifying glass, meticulously hand-letter the buckets.

IMG_8389 (2).JPG


In fact, it was a great deal easier than that. The lettering was printed out on a laser printer (in Bahnschrift 4-point) onto waterslide decal film, using the methods described in this thread on 26 November last year (in the middle of page 20 of this thread).

IMG_8390 (2).JPG
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johndarch
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby johndarch » Sun Jan 15, 2023 12:12 pm

I've sunk a pint or several in the Wagon and Horses in my time!

martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Sun Jan 15, 2023 5:20 pm

I believe that the Waggon & Horses in London Road, Cirencester is not the same building on that site which I have modelled as a mirror image of the original prototype (based on photos taken before and during World War 1). If, as I believe, this pub was rebuilt or replaced at some time between the two world wars, it seems that the replacement or rebuild was in a superficially similar style, but was larger. Whether, and if so, how much of the original structure survived in the rebuild is not entirely clear.

Compare the first photo below (believed to have been taken some time before World War 1) with the second photo below it showing the pub as it exists today.

Waggon & Horses (JPG).jpg


Waggon & Horses (replaced).jpg
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steve howe
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby steve howe » Sun Jan 15, 2023 6:50 pm

bécasse wrote:I actually managed to annoy Jerry Clifford by politely suggesting that the buildings on his exquisite 2FS model of Bath Green Park set in the 1920s were far too clean and should be "sooted", so it seems to be a common blind spot as I wouldn't have raised the issue without having checked with contemporary photographs. In fact, one of my everlasting memories of my undergraduate days in Oxford in the mid-1960s (apart from the appalling traffic jams) was the way in which seemingly so many colleges were clad in wet plastic sheeting while they were being washed down to remove the encrusted grime.


I can remember going to Oxford in the 1960's and the (now beautifully honeyed stone) buildings were indeed black, and from memory, very black indeed! Whether they were this black in the 1930's I couldn't say, but they were pretty grimy in the 50's and 60's!

Steve

bécasse
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby bécasse » Sun Jan 15, 2023 9:56 pm

Contemporary postcards from the Edwardian era suggest that indeed they were grime encrusted then too. I wouldn't have suggested to Gerry that the buildings should be grime encrusted without having checked my facts first.

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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby Terry Bendall » Mon Jan 16, 2023 10:28 am

I was interested in the farm wagon (waggon) in Martin's picture. In the period of the picture wagons in different parts of the country had very distinctive styles and a check in "The English Farm Wagon" shows this this type of body was more common in Wiltshire although the one in the picture has a more curved top rail over the rear wheels than was usual for the Wiltshire type. In the Cotsworlds the South Midland wagon was more common and this had a top rail that was only curved over the rear wheels. There were of course variations which would be found on the borders of the different counties and there may have been variations depending on what the farmer wanted and what the local waggon builder may have done.

Local variations in design tended to be phased out towards the end of the nineteenth century with the growth of large scale manufacturing but traditional ones would still be in use after WW1, All part of getting the details correct for the period and location being modelled. :)

Terry Bendall

martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Mon Jan 16, 2023 10:53 am

I can't claim any expertise on farm waggons, but I understand that there were distinct features that were more or less exclusive to individual counties. Thus, although waggons in the Cotswold area may well have been of the South Midland type, it has always been my understanding that there was a distinctive "Gloucestershire waggon" and also a distinctive "Oxfordshire waggon". I have some illustrations of these various types somewhere, but regret that I am not in a position to look for them at the moment.

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Noel
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby Noel » Mon Jan 16, 2023 10:59 am

bécasse wrote:Contemporary postcards from the Edwardian era suggest that indeed they were grime encrusted then too. I wouldn't have suggested to Gerry that the buildings should be grime encrusted without having checked my facts first.

All the railways' fault, making coal fires available to effectively the whole country and encouraging industry - Cirencester, given the prevailing winds, would have been downwind of the Bristol/Bath, Forest of Dean/Gloucester or south Wales industrial areas a lot of the time :D.
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Noel
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby Noel » Mon Jan 16, 2023 11:13 am

martin goodall wrote: I have some illustrations of these various types somewhere, but regret that I am not in a position to look for them at the moment.

There is an article by Chris Pilton in MRJ 16 of 1987 which deals with Oxfordshire and Berkshire wagons.
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Noel

martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Mon Jan 16, 2023 6:49 pm

I am not planning to model a farm waggon on the Burford Branch, but Terry's query aroused my curiosity.

A bit of googling on the internet turned up some interesting images, from which I discovered that in Gloucestershire there were two distinct waggon designs - South Gloucestershire and North Gloucestershire. The South Gloucestershire type was remarkably similar (in fact it seems to have been identical) to the Wiltshire type. So Terry was right in his identification from the Cirencester photo, subject to the rider that this was a design which could also be seen in the southern half of Gloucestershire.

The North Gloucesterhire waggon was rather simpler in shape, without the sweeping curves seen in the Wiltshire/South Gloucestershire waggon. The Oxfordshire waggon was also a simpler design.

Rather than attempting to show any of the images here, I would simply refer members/readers of this thread to the images that will be revealed by googling "farm waggons" (or a specific county variant) on the internet.

ted.stephens
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby ted.stephens » Tue Jan 17, 2023 10:08 am

There was a series of books published in 1970's/80's written by John Thompson covering horse drawn farm wagons and implements. The one for Horse Drawn Farm Vehicles, ISBN 9780906922033, can be found on Abe Books for £10. May contain relevant information.

You might also try www.guildofmodelwheelwrights.org they offer plans for sale for many different types of wagon, for example a Cotswold Harvest Wain.

martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Fri Feb 17, 2023 11:10 am

As regular readers of this thread will be aware, work on the Burford Branch tends to go in fits and starts (for a whole host of reasons), and there was yet another hiatus for several weeks in January.

I had not been completely idle in that time. A visit to the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre at Chippenham gave me the chance to examine and photograph some original drawings of Great Western fixed 6-ton hand cranes of the 1890s, which will enable me to make a model of one of these cranes. The circular base for this crane has been sitting forlornly on the goods dock next to the Goods Shed at Burford, waiting far too long for its crane. As to when I may get around to actually building the model, that is anyone’s guess, but at least I now have the means of doing so.

Another distraction from continuing progress on the layout itself has been some further work on the automatic couplings (the ‘Burford’ coupling) that I designed for use on this layout. This time was certainly not wasted, but in the meantime, the partly built models in Station Road were still awaiting completion.

I have now been able to make a bit more progress on these models. The interior details have now been added to the Bell Foundry, including some bells that have recently been cast (or re-cast), a pillar drill and two men in conversation in the doorway.

IMG_8458.JPG

The moustachioed character with his hand on the door is presumably the proprietor of the foundry, Tom Bond. This detail would be largely invisible in the gloom of the interior without internal lighting. The next shot was taken with the mock-up of the roof in place, and shows how dark the interior is without any lighting.

IMG_8457.JPG

To add some illumination, I have installed a yellow LED, although it is not yet connected to the layout wiring. So I don't know how well this will work.

IMG_8464.JPG

The hanging pub signs for both pubs in Station Road have now been fixed in place.

IMG_8462 (2).JPG

I had some difficulty in finding a replica bell of suitable size to hang in front of The Bell Inn, but the solution to this problem demonstrates the value of talking to friends about what you are doing. I mentioned this in passing while chatting on the phone to my old friend Trevor Pott. A couple of days later I received an email from him with a link to the website of Cornwall Model Boats. Trevor had been watching a repeat of ‘The Onedin Line’ when he spotted a shot of a ship’s bell, and it immediately occurred to him that a model of one of these might give me the bell I needed for my pub sign. I ordered a selection of three brass ship’s bells, and one of these turned out to be perfect as a replica bell for the pub sign. The other two are among the bells that have been placed inside the Bell Foundry.

IMG_8449.JPG

An advertisement hoarding has been added to the wall of the pub, as this was a feature of the old Waggon & Horses in London Road, Cirencester, on which this model is based. A street sign for Station Road will also be fixed to the wall above, after the roof has been added, so that I can judge its positioning on the wall.

IMG_8453 (2).JPG

With the fronts and interiors of this group of buildings now completed, the next job will be to build the chimneys and add roofs to replace the crude card mock-ups that still adorn these buildings for the time being.
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Will L
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby Will L » Fri Feb 17, 2023 3:19 pm

martin goodall wrote:... I ordered a selection of three brass ship’s bells, and one of these turned out to be perfect as a replica bell for the pub sign. ...

Brass certainly, bright and shiny, shorly not?

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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Fri Feb 17, 2023 3:33 pm

Will's point is perfectly valid. I did consider repainting the bell as "matted brass", but the model bell is not as shiny as all that and may tarnish naturally to more of a matt appearance. I was influenced to some extent by this photo of 'The Bell' in the Market Square in Aylesbury.

Bell, Aylesbury (pub sign).jpg

I am aware of other, admittedly quite modern, pub signs displaying shiny replicas of bells. On balance, I am inclined to leave the model bell as it is, and see if it does acquire a duller patina over time.
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Noel
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby Noel » Fri Feb 17, 2023 4:35 pm

Posters are interesting, to me anyway, so I wondered whether it could be dated. Apparently Mary Honri started working with her father [whose successful Music Hall career was started much earlier] in 1935, while Jo, Jac and Joni, and Joan Rhodes were popular in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, while Archie Glen was most popular in the 1930s and 1940s [all three acts would have been working, but lower on the bill, before then, of course]. So, 1939 or thereabouts for the poster?

So far as the bell is concerned, it looks rather big for a ships bell in 4mm, but if it was a church or school bell it would be bell metal, which, like gun metal, is related to bronze, rather than brass, and is greyish, with a possible coppery or greenish tinge when weathered. It is difficult to judge scale from the photos, but if bell metal it would possibly weigh something around 2 to 3 cwt. Not something I would casually walk under!
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Noel

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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Fri Feb 17, 2023 6:43 pm

My thanks to Noel for his perceptive comments.

Regarding the variety show on the hoarding, the actual date was Monday, April 22nd 1947. This is visible on the original poster (which was advertising a show at the Ipswich Hippodrome, a venue to which the good citizens of West Oxfordshire were unlikely to travel (!), so I changed it to the New Theatre, Oxford). So far as the date is concerned, I was relying solely on modeller’s licence by pretending that the advertised performance was some 25 years earlier. I know absolutely nothing about variety shows, and assumed that I could get away with the anachronism. (I should have known better.) Needless to say, I have no intention of correcting the model. I plead artistic licence, and Rule 1.

Then we come to the bell. I am well aware that church bells etc. are cast from bronze, and so I painted the bells in the foundry next door with a mix of Brass and Gun Metal, to resemble the colour of newly cast bells. However, I was careful to describe this bell as a ‘replica bell’ (like the one I photographed in Aylesbury). This would have been a comparatively light casting/turning with a brass finish, and as you can see, both from my Aylesbury photo and from the model, it does not have a proper clapper but only a superficial representation of one (I used a domestic pin for this model). As to the scale, I have no idea what scale the model ship’s bell I obtained was meant to be, although it was clearly a lot larger than 4mm scale. I simply bought a selection of three bells of different sizes, and this one looked about right for my purposes.

Incidentally, if you want to see a truly massive and frankly unrealistic bell, here’s one I photographed outside the Bell Hotel in Faringdon. It appears to have been carved from wood.

Bell, Faringdon.jpg
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