Real of Tayopa
Bronze Member
apologize, I accidentally posted this in the status of Tayopa, when it should be in here.
Hola, I am going to begin reposting some of my posts in the past for our newer members. Certain stories will not be repeated because they are reserved for the book.
Good evening my friends: regarding bells, one of the accompanying stories of Tayopa is that one of the resident Jesuits of Tayopa cast bells. This would be in the late 1500's -> early 1600's.
Aprox. 15 miles to the north of Tayopa, on the same mt range / Mesa, lies the area known as "La Mesa del campanero.- The Mesa of the Bell maker". There are bits of copper slag to be found here and there. Some day I will run down the source of the copper and the other metals used in the bell alloy.
I originally started looking for Tayopa upon hearing, but not personally seeing, that Yeager, an American mining engineer, had purchased a small hand bell with "Guadalupe de Tayopa "cast on it's rim shortly before dying.. All attempts to locate it were in vain, it had been sent to relatives in Los Angles along with his other personal effects. There the trail seems to have died, I did not pursue it since it had served it's purpose of establishing that Tayopa had existed..
Later while on the trail to a sister lost mine "The Gloria Pan" I ended up at Tubares. The mission had been abandoned, there was no one within miles, but the Church itself was basically intact. It had a brass baptismal bowl with the lid hinged in the center of a brass alloy, approx 4 ft in diameter.
In the tower, which was separate from the main building, there were 24 small bells. Upon investigating I found two large bells crudely hung at the entrance to the grave yard. approx 200 meters away. They were similar, about 4 ft in dia at the rim.
I do not remember exactly what was cast on the rims, but one was "In penitence", and the name of a woman with 17?? The other was in the name of a man.
I later was told by a passing Indian that the original church had been destroyed when the river changed it's course. He also told me that another large bell was in the river bed buried in the sand.
At that time I was completely alone except for my mule for almost two weeks. Now it has a road and an Indian village there.
If I can ever find it in my notes, I will post the data and pictures. There are many blank sections of "Bell casting in the Americas".
Don Jose de La Mancha
Hola, I am going to begin reposting some of my posts in the past for our newer members. Certain stories will not be repeated because they are reserved for the book.
Good evening my friends: regarding bells, one of the accompanying stories of Tayopa is that one of the resident Jesuits of Tayopa cast bells. This would be in the late 1500's -> early 1600's.
Aprox. 15 miles to the north of Tayopa, on the same mt range / Mesa, lies the area known as "La Mesa del campanero.- The Mesa of the Bell maker". There are bits of copper slag to be found here and there. Some day I will run down the source of the copper and the other metals used in the bell alloy.
I originally started looking for Tayopa upon hearing, but not personally seeing, that Yeager, an American mining engineer, had purchased a small hand bell with "Guadalupe de Tayopa "cast on it's rim shortly before dying.. All attempts to locate it were in vain, it had been sent to relatives in Los Angles along with his other personal effects. There the trail seems to have died, I did not pursue it since it had served it's purpose of establishing that Tayopa had existed..
Later while on the trail to a sister lost mine "The Gloria Pan" I ended up at Tubares. The mission had been abandoned, there was no one within miles, but the Church itself was basically intact. It had a brass baptismal bowl with the lid hinged in the center of a brass alloy, approx 4 ft in diameter.
In the tower, which was separate from the main building, there were 24 small bells. Upon investigating I found two large bells crudely hung at the entrance to the grave yard. approx 200 meters away. They were similar, about 4 ft in dia at the rim.
I do not remember exactly what was cast on the rims, but one was "In penitence", and the name of a woman with 17?? The other was in the name of a man.
I later was told by a passing Indian that the original church had been destroyed when the river changed it's course. He also told me that another large bell was in the river bed buried in the sand.
At that time I was completely alone except for my mule for almost two weeks. Now it has a road and an Indian village there.
If I can ever find it in my notes, I will post the data and pictures. There are many blank sections of "Bell casting in the Americas".
Don Jose de La Mancha
Last edited: