| Description | This bronze bell hung in the tower of John Paton, Son & Co Ltd's mill in Clackmannan from 1900. It rang twice a day to let the employees know that it was time to start and end their shifts. When the mill closed in 1983, it was rescued, restored to its present impressive condition, and placed on display in a new factory at Lornshill. When the Lornshill factory closed the bell was donated to Clackmannanshire Council Museum and Heritage Service.
The bell was apparently bought by Patons in 1900 from a ship breaker's yard and it was long thought to have been a ship's bell. Its considerable size ( it is nearly 600mm (2ft) high) made it very unlikely, however, that it was used originally on a ship. The inscription on the bell reads " John C Wilson Founder Glasgow AD1859. Nr.660". This information made it possible to find out more about its origin, via the University of Glasgow Archives Department, which holds many of the archives of Glasgow-based companies.
John C Wilson's foundry was in Portugal Street in the Gorbals area of Glasgow. The bell was in fact cast on 9th October 1859 for Kelvinside Free Church and was, therefore, originally a turret-bell. In 1900 some churches began to merge together again after the Disruption, so it may be that the church was about to demolished and that the bell was sold to the breaker's yard at that time. More research still remains to be done, but meanwhile a new and important piece of information has been added to the story of the Paton's bell. |