The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Bell gift led to right ding-dong
Do you know the story of the Forfar merchant who went to Scandinavia in the 1600s and later had the Angus town’s famous church bell named after him?
In his excellent compendium Forfar On This Day, the late author David W Potter provided a brief but insightful account of the significance of the massive Lang Strang as it’s known, which has rung out from East, Old and Inverarity Parish Church in his birth town’s East High Street since the mid-17 th Century.
After digging deep into the archives to cast a glance back towards newspaper coverage of events on his home patch back on May 21 1651, the proud Forfarian wrote: “Today in Stockholm, Sweden, Robert Strang died.
“Not a great deal is known of Robert, other than that he came from Forfar, went to Stockholm on business one day, liked it there and settled, becoming very rich.
“It is not clear how, but words like ‘merchant’ and ‘trader’ are used to describe him. He may have specialised on campanology, for he bequeathed to the good people of Forfar a huge bell for ringing in the church, and of course it is still there, commonly known as ‘Lang Strang’.
“Strang Street is, of course, named after him, and apparently one of his wishes was that anyone in Forfar called Strang who died should have a funeral knell rung on the bell similar to that when the king dies.”
Mr Potter continued: “Transporting of the bell to Forfar was a problem – at least the North Sea presented no difficulties – but the magistrates of Dundee turned awkward and first of all wrenched the tongue out of the bell and threw it into the River Tay, then made the Forfar magistrates pay for every bit of land when they transported the bell over.
“This was sheer bullying and imperialism, not to mention extortion and vandalism, and those who wonder why it is that, when the half-time scores are announced at Station Park a loud cheer usually rises when Dundee and Dundee United are not doing well may have their answer here!”
As the conclusion to his passage in the weighty tome, which was first published in 2021, the author ended with his own mischievous dig.
He added: “In spite of all the efforts of those who say ‘eh’ all the time, the bell was safely transported to Forfar, and has been in action for over 350 years. Thank you, Mr Strang!”