Bells and Bellringing (Part II) Richard Wilson


In the last issue, we learned that English bells are hung on wheels, which provides ringers some control over when the bell rings, allowing them to ring the bells in defined sequences.


English bells come in sets, or rings, of three, four, five, six, eight, ten or twelve bells. Historically, the smaller rings (six or fewer bells) would have been found in village or small town churches, large town churches would have eight or ten and large city churches and cathedrals twelve.


This, however can only be taken as a guide; until a few years ago, Westminster Abbey had only eight bells whilst the neighbouring church of St Margaret has ten! Nowadays, such exceptions exist in many places.


Musically, modern bells are tuned when they are made and do not require any adjustment after they have been installed. For bells made before 1890, the


tuning is sometimes rather approximate; older bells are sometimes sent to the bell- founders to be retuned.


The Hampton bells, which were made in the middle of the 19th century, have undergone such retuning. The notes


sounded by the bells in a ring are


determined by the note of the largest bell, always known as the tenor. This note is governed by the weight of the bell.


Tenor bells vary in weight from three or four hundred pounds up to over four tons. The Hampton tenor tips the scales at approximately five-eighths of a ton. The other bells are then tuned to a major scale based on the note of the tenor.


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bells in the ring, as at Hampton, then the notes will form a complete octave. With fewer than eight bells, only a portion of an octave will be spanned, whilst with ten or twelve bells the span will be an octave and two or four notes of the next octave.


Although the timing of English bells can be varied, the amount of variation is insufficient to make it possible to play tunes even if the necessary notes are available, which in general they are not. Instead, English ringers have developed what is known as change ringing.


To gain a basic appreciation of change ringing, it is first necessary to understand how bellringers write down the sequences or changes.


This is done by assigning a number to each bell. Perversely, although the notes of a ring are (Continued on page 14)


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