Page 17 - Frittenden Parish Mag - November 2021

Bell Ringers Traditionally The ringers stand in a
church bells ringing chamber below, and
are weighed in the ropes pass through holes
hundredweight- in the ceiling. The rope has a
A Puzzling Language quarters-pounds. woollen grip called the sally
Rebecca Steele 1 hundredweight while the lower end of the
approx 51kg. rope is doubled over to form
The lightest of an easily held tail-end. There are over 5,000 rings of
The bellringing apparatus, hidden away high in our Frittenden bells in England and an estimated 40,000 bell ringers.
the belfry, and the long history of church bell bells weighs 4-0-24 cwt-qtrs-lbs (214kg) whilst the
ringing has led to bellringers using jargon that heaviest is 15-1-4 cwt-qtrs-lbs (776kg). Please look at our FaceBook page to
can be bewildering to someone unfamiliar with
ringing. Over the last two years I have been Each bell is suspended from a headstock with see more information about Frittenden
introduced to vocabulary that in some parts gudgeon pins fitted to bearings so that the bell may Bellringers or scan the QR code.
originates from engineering and others from rotate. The headstock is fitted with a wooden stay, www.facebook.com/FrittendenBellRingers/
old English and French. The word search on the which limits maximum rotational movement to
right contains all the bold words or terms from just over a full circle, and allows the bell to be set,
this article. See if you can find them all. Anyone or rested, mouth uppermost. A large wheel is fitted
with a completed puzzle is welcome to join us at to the headstock, and the rope wraps and unwraps
ringing practice on a Monday evening! as the bell rotates backwards and forwards. Within
the bell is a clapper that strikes the thickest part
Church bells are of the bell mouth called the soundbow. In English
the most historic ringing a set of bells is known as a ‘ring of bells’, and
sound many announcing important occasions to the local an example of a ring of eight bells is shown mouth
of us ever hear community. This tradition dates back to 400 AD upwards in the rest position in the accompanying
and the sound when an Italian bishop named Paulinus of Nola picture.
of church bells, introduced bells as part of Catholic church services.
along with village In 604 AD, Pope Sabinian officially sanctioned
cricket, is to me, the ringing of church bells during worship and to
a quintessential announce the times of daily prayer. By the early
sound of Middle Ages, church bells were a common feature
the England of Christian monasteries, churches and cathedrals
countryside. I am told that the Bible neither across Europe. At this time many bells were rung by
specifically requires nor forbids the ringing of chiming. The bell is swung back and forth through
o
church bells, but does encourage Christians to an arc of, usually, less than 180 . When two or
“make a joyful noise”. We strive to achieve this more bells are chimed in this way, they ring in a
when ringing the bells of Frittenden St Mary random and uncoordinated manner.
although sometimes a Monday night practice can In England’s “green and pleasant land” of orderly
go horribly wrong…. fields, hedgerows and quaint cathedral towns it isn’t
Many Christian churches have been ringing bells surprising that a more structured, controlled, style
for spiritual and practical purposes, letting people of bell ringing became favoured. ‘English Full Circle
know that a church service is about to start and Ringing’ developed in the early 17th century when
bell ringers found that swinging a bell through a
full circle, enabled them to pause the motion of
the bell and gave control over the time between
successive strikes of the clapper.
Once it is possible to control the speed of each bell,
it is also possible to change the order in which the
bells ring. ‘Call Changes’ and ‘Method Ringing’
then becomes possible where the bells change order
in a regulated and consistent way.

16 Frittenden Parish Magazine November 2021 Frittenden Parish Magazine November 2021 17