Bell ringing is a team activity for people of all ages and from all walks of life. Although some ringers are members of the church where they ring the bells, many ringers aren’t – you don’t have to be a church goer to ring the bells at a church. Many consider ringing to be their contribution to church life, others do it for the pure pleasure and the company it brings.
Bell ringing is an excellent way to keep both mind and body fit and active. Ringers are part of an inclusive and extensive community – at their local tower, within the county, across the UK and even internationally.
The origins of change ringing lie in 16th century England when church bells began to be fitted with a full wheel. This gave ringers control of their bell, allowing sets of bells (often called a ‘peal’ or ‘ring’) to be rung in continuously changing patterns. Music is created by altering the order in which the bells sound. Most bell towers contain six or eight bells, with many also having five, ten or twelve bells. There are also towers which have four or less, although they are not generally used for change ringing.
The bells are tuned to a normal (diatonic) scale and it’s usual to start with ringing down the scale from the highest to the lowest sounding note, a sequence which ringers call ’rounds’. The order in which the bells sound is then altered to give different sequences called ‘rows’ or ‘changes’.
Changes may be called out individually by the conductor, and this style is known as call-change ringing. Alternatively, the changes may be made to a pre-set pattern or ‘method’, and each ringer must learn that method in order to know when his or her particular bell must sound in each row. This style is known as ‘method’ ringing.
Call changes and a few standard methods are rung in most towers and this makes it very easy for ringers to visit and ring with other bands. There are many more advanced methods which provide a continuing challenge as ringers gain proficiency over time.
Change ringing is also performed on handbells either to provide additional opportunities for practice or as an activity in its own right.
Each bell is attached to a beam known as a ‘headstock’. The headstock has bearings at each end which are attached to a frame so that the bell and its headstock are free to swing backwards and forwards. A wheel is also attached to the headstock and a rope is attached to the wheel. The rope passes over pulleys to the bell ringer who stands below. By pulling on the rope, the bell and its headstock can be made to swing; and, rather like pushing a child’s swing, the bell is swung through successively greater arcs by timing the pull on the rope to coincide with the movement of the bell. Similarly, by timing the pull slightly differently, the bell can be made to swing in smaller arcs. In ‘full circle ringing’ the arc through which the bell swings is almost a full circle, first in one direction (known as ‘hand–stroke’) and then in the opposite direction (known as ‘back–stroke’).
Inside the bell there is a free-swinging clapper which strikes the inside rim of the bell causing it to sound. The clapper is designed so that it strikes the bell once each time the bell rotates and this happens about ¾ of the way through its rotation. It takes about 2 seconds for a bell to swing from mouth up position to mouth up position, and so there are about 2 seconds between successive blows of the clapper on the bell. However, by careful adjustments to the pull on the rope, the ringer can make the bell swing through a slightly smaller or slightly greater arc (but not more than a complete circle) and this in turn causes successive blows of the clapper to occur at a slightly quicker or slightly slower rate.