Sometimes a story sticks with you, resonates and comes back round and for years. The story goes that in 1626 during the Border Reivers period, raiders from Annan crossed the Solway and stole the church bell from St Michael’s church in Bo’ness, Cumbria. The residents in Bo’ness chased after them, resulting in the bell being thrown overboard and lost in the Solway sands. In retaliation, two further bells were stolen, from Dornock and Middlebie Churches on the Scottish side – both of which still reside in St Michael’s church. Whenever a new minister takes up the post at Dornock, they write to the minister in Bo’ness requesting the return of their bell, which is politely refused.

In recent years, a commemorative ‘raid’ has been organised by the Annan Harbour Action Group where coastal rowing skiffs from Annan race across to Bo’ness and back.

I’ve been interested in bells since an early project – the first that I joined in with the Stove Network – working with artist Will Levi Marshall, Roddy Matheson, the inimitable Colin Tennant and folks in Creetown, a small village towards Stranraer to create new bronze bell for the town, that was cast in-situ out of an old blacksmith’s on Creetown High Street. The phrase, Ring Out Wild Bells was set into the top of the bell which could be rung by anyone passing by.

More recently, when visiting the Warburg Institute for the Origins and Afterlives: Tarot exhibition in London (which featured the Barrow Tarot in the contemporary ‘Tarotkammer’ display), curator Jonathan Allen and Paul Taylor, curator of the amazing photographic collection kindly showed me around this amazing collection and undertook a quick hunt for bell themed iconography. This collection is a treasure trove of the unexpected, and relying on Paul’s extensive knowledge we were able to navigate it’s curious cataloguing system.

I’ve also began to test some casting approaches at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop – beginning in bronze to create a maquette-in-progress; a set of three small bells to explore, and familiarise myself with the basic form and some possibilities in texture and detail.

The bones of a project are beginning to emerge. I’m now beginning to seek some potential project partners and to explore the conversation locally. If you know any more about this story, or connections between Annan and Bo’ness (also once linked via the Solway viaduct and our shared coastline – a coastline that is constantly in flux, suspended in a state of change and movement and defying charts) I’d love to be in touch.