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BELLS
AND BELLRINGING
Have you ever wondered, as you walk along the path
leading to the Church just before the service begins, how the bells are
rung and how they produce their sound? You might feel that bell-ringing is
shrouded in mystery, that visitors to the tower are not welcome, and that
our church always has enough ringers. This is far from the truth. In this
series of short articles I hope to give some insight into the fascinating
activity of bellringing, and explain why ringers find it so challenging
and rewarding.
The history of bells extends back almost to the dawn of
civilisation, when crude metallic objects were sounded to ward off evil
spirits, to alter the weather, or to mark festive occasions. In medieval
times the craft of bellfounding began to develop, and bells were hung in
towers specially built for them. To begin with bells were hung mouth
downwards, but it was soon realised that by swinging the bell through a
wider and wider arc a progressively fuller and richer tone was produced.
To enable a bell to be swung in this way a wheel was attached and a rope
tied to the wheel, so that the ringer could control the swing of the bell
to some extent.
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In the sixteenth century ringers developed a system of
full-circle ringing, so that the bell starts from a mouth upward position,
swings through a full circle and comes to rest mouth upwards again, before
swinging back again full circle in the opposite direction. It was realised
that a ringer had some control over the bell's movement by varying the
time during which it was held on the balance with mouth upwards, and
change ringing developed by altering the sequence in which the bells in
the tower were sounded.
Bellringing in those days was mainly a secular activity,
practised largely by the squires and nobility. Some of the first ringing
societies were founded at that time - the oldest society still in
existence was founded by Lord Brereton in 1637. In the nineteenth century
ringing became increasingly identified with the Church, with most ringing
peals being hung in church towers, and rung to mark Sunday services,
weddings and so on. With improvements in bell hanging, ringing ceased to
be physically arduous and ladies joined the ranks of ringers around the
turn of the century. More complex methods of producing changes (the
permutations of the order in which the bells strike) were developed and
many challenging possibilities were opened up.
Nowadays, bellringing is firmly established as a
Church-based activity, although many ringers pursue their hobby at other
times as well - on practice nights, ringing for special occasions and so
on. The bells' primary function is to call the faithful to worship and to
proclaim the Church's gospel far and wide. However, would-be ringers
should not be put off if they are not themselves active church-goers!
In the next article I will give some details about our
fine ring of bells at St Giles', and say a little more about the way in
which they are rung.
P.H.M.
BELLS AND BELLRINGING Index Page
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