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    Bells and Bellringing
    Bells and Bellringing
    Bells and Bellringing
    Ebook110 pages1 hour

    Bells and Bellringing

    By John Harrison

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    About this ebook

    Handel called Britain 'The Ringing Isle' because he heard bells ringing everywhere he went. Behind the quintessentially English sound of bells ringing lies a unique way of hanging bells and a special way of ringing them that evolved in the late sixteenth century. Ringing has since developed and spread, with some 6,000 towers worldwide with bells hung in the English style, and most of them in England. Over 40,000 active ringers keep alive the traditions and skills of change ringing that have been handed down over many generations.
    The book is an introduction to the world of bells and bell-ringing. It explains how bells are made and how a ringing installation works. It explains the nature of change ringing, which has mathematical as well as musical aspects. It provides insights into the ringing community its origins and culture as well as its relationships with the Church and the community.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateMar 24, 2016
    ISBN9781784420895
    Bells and Bellringing
    Author

    John Harrison

    John Harrison is Yorkshire born and bred. His work draws inspiration from his beloved county and is known for portraying built structures in the wider landscape, exploring the contrast between the manmade and the natural.

    Read more from John Harrison

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      Book preview

      Bells and Bellringing - John Harrison

      CONTENTS

      BELLS AND BELL-HANGING

      CHANGE RINGING

      EVOLUTION OF ENGLISH-STYLE RINGING

      RINGING AND THE CHURCH

      MODERN RINGING

      RINGING TERMINOLOGY

      FURTHER READING

      USEFUL WEBSITES

      PLACES TO VISIT

      BELLS AND BELL-HANGING

      Bells are the loudest of musical instruments. They are capable of arousing strong emotions and their sound is deeply rooted in many cultures around the world. In England and some other parts of the English-speaking world the unique sound of English-style ringing, especially change ringing, is embedded in the public consciousness. The bells do not ‘play tunes’, nor do they strike randomly as they do in many places. They sound in ordered sequences, which continually change to create a captivating soundscape. This unique style of ringing is made possible by the special way the bells are hung, so let us start by looking at ‘how’ ringing works.

      FULL-CIRCLE RINGING

      Bells can be fixed mouth down and struck by a hammer or clapper as they are in clocks and carillons (where the clappers are operated from a clavier), or they can be ‘chimed’ (swung through a small arc with the clapper swinging inside the bell), but English-style ringing is much more dynamic with the bells swinging full circle – mouth up to mouth up. The clapper strikes the bell hard at the end of each swing, alternately on each side. Ringing in this way means that the timing can be controlled very accurately. When the bell is swinging nearly full circle, making it swing a little higher makes it swing more slowly and letting it swing less high makes it swing more quickly. This is what makes it easy to ring bells in orderly sequences, and to vary the order continually – the essence of change ringing.

      The bells of St Magnus the Martyr, London, viewed from above.

      Fig. 1: Bells hung for full-circle ringing with typical fittings: traditional timber headstock (left); modern metal headstock (right).

      Each bell is mounted on a headstock with bearings so that it can turn freely. A wheel is attached to the headstock and around it passes the rope that runs down to the ringing room below. Also on the headstock is a stay that allows the bell to rest mouth up just beyond the balance point when it is not being rung.

      In English-style ringing the rope is the ringer’s only contact with the bell apart from hearing it. The ringer feels what the bell is doing and judges how far to let the rope rise, and when and how much force to apply to make the bell strike at the right time. The rope winds in opposite ways around the wheel at each end of the swing (‘backstroke’ and ‘handstroke’). The rope includes a tufted woollen portion, the ‘sally’, for the ringer to grip when not holding the tail end (see Fig. 3).

      Fig. 2: The position of bell, clapper, stay, slider and rope when the bell is up – set at handstroke (left) and set at backstroke (right) – compared with when the bell is down (centre).

      Fig. 3: The rope wraps a long way over the wheel at backstroke and a short way under the wheel at handstroke, so the ringer holds the rope end at backstroke but at handstroke holds the sally with the spare rope hanging below the hands.

      Once a bell is swinging full circle it takes relatively little effort to sustain it. Typical bells weigh between a quarter and three-quarters of a ton – some lighter, some much heavier. The number of bells in a ring can vary. Each has a different note in a diatonic scale, with the bells generally getting heavier down

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