| SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON BELLRINGING Q: Why are church bells rung? A: They are the loud voice of the church, ringing out over the surrounding community and countryside. They call all people to worship God in times of local and national celebration in joyfull peal; in times of grief or disaster they are muffled and sombre. Q: Sunday morning - church bells ring. Isn't it the same everywhere? A: Places of worship for many faiths and in many countries use bells to call the people. The particular pattern of swirling sounds made by our bells is unique to England and just a few other English-speaking countries. It is called CHANGE-RINGING. Q: Do all churches have bells hung for English-style change-ringing? A: There are a 5205 churches in England with rings of bells; most are C of E, just a few are RC, Nonconformist and secular towers. Wales has 167, Ireland 35 and Scotland 15 towers. Abroad there are less than a hundred churches in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada and Africa with bells rung for change-ringing. In addition a few churches in Holland and Northern Italy have bells capable of being rung in the English style. Q: So how many bells are there in each tower? A: That depends! Most towers contain six bells (approx. 2700 churches). About 1700 have a full octave, eight bells. Nearly 800 have five bells. An uncounted number have four or three bells but these are often not rung (and are not included in the total given in Q3 above). About 200 churches have ten bells and over 90, mostly catherdrals and big town churches have rings of twelve bells or more. Q: How do you actually ring a bell? A: There are two ways - chiming and full-circle. CHIMING is quite easy and can be safely mastered by anyone in a few minutes. It is used when a single bell is needed, for example the 'five minute bell'. To chime a bell, the rope is pulled a short distance and then checked. The bell swings through a small arc and hits against the heavy clapper. When chiming, the speed is relatively uncontrollable and the sound fairly quiet. FULL CIRCLE RINGING. This is the traditional English bell-ringing style. First the bell must be 'rung up'. Starting frm chiming, the angle of the swing is gradually increased until the bell is swinging in full circle, through 360 degrees. Then the bell is balanced mouth upwards (set). From this point, with hours of practice, it is possible to swing the bell alternately round one way and then the other, thus controlling the speed of striking necessary to produce the English-style 'change-ringing'. The rope's up and down movement is equal to the circumference of the wheel, which is why a soft sally is needed for the pull one way. The bell's sound is richer and carries further. Q: So do ringers need to be immensely fit and strong? A: Not really, it's all technique! The bells rotate on ball-bearings so only the friction has to be overcome. Some quite small children and elderly people ring perfectly well. What other hobby can you begin as achild and continue into your eighties? Q: How big are the bells? A: In each tower the bells are graduated down the musical scale from the smallest (called the 'treble') to the biggest ('tenor'), which of course is the lowest note, the key-note. The average tenor bell weight is about 10 cwt, (510kg), which is about the weight of a Mini motor car. The heaviest ring of bells is in Liverpool Cathedral where the tenor bell alone weighs over 82 cwt (4195kg) but can still be rung by one (strong and skilled) man. |