Church Bells
By Tom Peach
Extracted from Lavendon Life Magazine, May 1980.
 
We all hear church bells even in the remotest parts of the country, but unless we are attending a Wedding, Funeral or enjoying an historic occasion we never really listen to them.
 
Next time you hear church bells, take time to stop and listen, you’ll be hearing a sound that is unique to these islands and a sound that has been heard throughout the countryside for many centuries.

The bands of dedicated ringers in our towers are carrying on a tradition laid down in the Middle Ages; they may even be ringing the same sequence of notes – the ‘Method’ – that was being rung long before the Battle of Sedgemoor. The actual bells they ring may be the same bells that were being rung in the seventeenth century or before.
 
Records show that the Whitechapel Bell Foundry was casting bells as long ago as 1420, and still casts bells in the same way today, using similar materials in the casting and in the bell metal itself.

A bell shape is made up slightly smaller than the finished bell is to be, this is the ‘core’. A larger bell shape, a ‘cope’ is made to cover the core, leaving a gap between them into which the molten metal is poured. The cope is still made up of a mixture of yellow clay, horse dung and cow hair, moulded and then rubbed and rubbed with a graphite mixture until it is hard and smooth. A flaw in this surface may cause the ‘cope’ to shatter when the molten metal is poured in, so some days are spent in producing a hard shiny surface.
 
One concession to science is that tuning is now carried out with an oscilloscope, but it is open to argument whether the notes are any purer in modern bells than those produced by the old craftsmen.

It is recorded that in the 16^th century a band of ringers walked from London to Aylesbury, spent a week ringing in the local towers and then walked back home to London. Perhaps the ringers of today aren’t quite so dedicated but the tradition of bands visiting other towers to ring still thrives.

The Lavendon band of ringers have rung in many of the towers in North Bucks, and have welcomed quite a number of visiting bands to Lavendon Tower.

The exercise is very well organised into branches and guilds. Lavendon Tower Band are members of the North Bucks Branch of the Oxford Diocesan Guild. This guild was formed in the 17^th Century and is by no means the oldest.

Bells differ considerably in weight, with some treble bells weighing just a cwt or so with tenor bells being weighed in tons.

The St Pauls Cathedral bell ‘Great Paul’ weighs over 16 tons and was cast in 1881. ‘Emmanuel’ in Liverpool Cathedral is of 4 tons and Gloucester Cathedral boasts ‘Great Peter’ which was cast in 1450 and weighs 3 tons.

The world’s largest bell is the ‘King of Bells’ in The Kremlin Moscow which weighs about 198 tons. Unfortunately it was cracked during casting but is kept as a national treasure.

The 6 Lavendon bells are a comparatively light ring of just over 37 cwt total. Even so some expertise and confidence is needed to ‘swing over’ by a 50’ or 60’ rope the tenor bell of over ½ ton, but with practice even the lightest young lady ringers can perform this task although generally the ladies ring the lighter bells and leave the heavier ones to the men.

The bells are hung in the bell frame mouth down and before ringing can commence they are swung with ropes, gradually higher and higher until they are balanced ‘mouth up’.

For each note struck the bell must be swung through 360˚ until it is again held balanced ‘mouth up’. The bell slows as it nears the balance and the ‘clapper’ hanging inside it overtakes it and strikes against the leading edge.

The number of ‘changes’ that can be rung on a peal of bells is the ‘Factorial’ of the number of bells. Thus 4 bells allow 24 changes. 6 bells allow 720 changes and so on. The Lavendon Band often ring the total number changes on their 6 bells.

Next time you hear bells calling out the times of service do take time to listen and I’m sure you will hear them with added enjoyment.