The origins of what we call change ringing lie in the 16th century in England when church bells began to be hung with a full wheel – enabling the bell to swing in a full circle and back again. This gave ringers control of their bell, which allowed sets of bells (rings) to be rung in a continuously changing pattern.

2023年9月24日 · So ubiquitous was bell ringing to England in the 17th century that at least two sources from the 1650s – a religious tract and a poem – attest to the country’s nickname, ‘the ringing island’. Bells had long been part of the English aural landscape.

The Hatch bell foundry at Ulcombe, near Maidstone, in Kent, England, was operated by three generations of the Hatch family from 1581 or earlier until 1664. The bellfounders were based at nearby Broomfield from about 1587 until at least 1639.

2024年12月16日 · Early bells were hung from an axle or spindle to which a rope was attached, enabling the bell to be tolled. Where a church had multiple bells, these were rung in succession, producing a monotonous, discordant sound. The 15th and 16th centuries were a period of experimentation to make bells more controllable and mellifluous.

2015年11月4日 · The Saxons installed large bells in church towers in England though none of the towers that remain today are older than the tenth century. The Romans used bells in London to mark the hours of the day. A story told by Bede, a seventh century English monk in Northumbria, tells us that when the Abbess Hilda died at Whitby in 680, the death-knell ...

2023年2月2日 · At home and abroad England was called ‘the ringing island’. Bells had long been part of the English aural landscape. In the eighth century, Bede wrote of a bell sounding a call to prayer at the monastic house at Hackness, near Scarborough. But by the end of the 16th century bell ringing had become a secular pastime and pleasure.

2024年5月22日 · If your place of worship is historic, the bell-frames may be of considerable antiquity. Many exemplify important stages in the development of structural carpentry, bell-frame technology and bell-ringing practice. In some important cases, medieval or 16th century bell-frames have been adapted and re-used for change-ringing.

2024年6月14日 · The Friends of Friendless Churches looks after more than 60 redundant churches and chapels in England and Wales, many of which have retained their bells — the oldest dating from the 12 th century. In this Story, we’ll take a look at some of our most interesting and important historic church bells.

Under pressure to do at least as well as the next-door parish church, individual church bell numbers increased at the end of the 16th century, giving greater variety of sound. In addition around the same time someone also came up with the idea of the stay and slider.

The religious upheavals of the 16th & 17th centuries might have extinguished ringing, along with other church rituals, but its secular role helped to preserve it. Ringers had become largely independent of the church, and they formed their own organisations.