Bell Tower
Bellringing - an ancient tradition
Dorothy L Sayers wrote a mystery “The Nine Taylors” around bell ringing. The following extracts beautifully describe the sound of the bells.
“The bells gave tongue, rioting and exulting high up in the dark tower, wide mouths rising and falling, brazen tongues clamouring, huge wheels turning to the dance of the leaping ropes”. “Out over the flat, white wastes of fen, over the spear-straight, steel-dark dykes and the wind-bent, groaning poplar trees, bursting from the snow-choked louvres of the belfry, whirled away southward and westward in gusty blasts of clamour to the sleeping counties went the music of the bells”.
Bells have rung out over Crondall for hundreds of years.
A brief history
Chiming bells (swinging them through a short arc using a rope and a lever) goes well back into the Middle Ages, but it was not until the seventeenth century that ringers developed the full wheel which allowed enough control for orderly ringing. In 1668 Fabian Stedman published Tintinnalogia - or the Art of Change Ringing, containing all the available information on systematic ringing. The theory of change ringing set forth by Stedman has been refined in later years but remains essentially unchanged today.
Some key dates for the Crondall bells:
1086 Domesday Book references the “Hundred of Crondall”
1170 Norman parish church of All Saints, Crondall built on site of Saxon church
1543 Four bells in tower over central crossing
1642 New frame and 2 new bells installed
1657 Old tower demolished
1659 New tower built modelled on St Matthews, Batersea. Cost £428
2000 Six original plus two new bells hung in new metal bell frame
Crondall has 8 bells for change ringing, tenor (heaviest bell) weighs 14-0-10 (nearly ¾ ton).
Our priority for 2010
New ringers are still required to ensure ringing continues so that the church is heard by the residents of Crondall and beyond.
Please consider helping keeping this tradition alive by joining the bellringers and learn a new skill. Come along to the tower on a Monday evening at around 7.30pm to find out more. We really need you.
There are many reasons why as individuals we ring the bells, but here are some:
- Supports the church
- Provides a service to local community
- Keeps an English tradition going, something that has been practiced for hundreds of years
- Provides physical exercise, although it is more about a learned skill rather than brute force – nevertheless, a ringer is pulling a rope controlling a bell weighing nearly ¾ of a ton
- Provides mental exercise, as bellringing is more about patterns and numbers rather than music
- Provides a new challenge as it can be guaranteed that you will never finish learning
- Teaches a skill that can be learnt at almost any age, from 11 upwards, and there have been many ‘senior’ ringers
- Provides an activity that the whole family can do and learn together
- Provides friendship that extends beyond the tower, with other social activities including post-practice pub, walks & outings
- Provides an opportunity to visit other church towers both in this country and abroad
- Provides somewhere to go where you know you will be made welcome when away from home (work, university, holiday etc)
So this is an Appeal to Everyone who is able to give a bit of time to learn this fascinating art of bellringing. The commitment is Monday evenings from about 7.30pm until 9.00 (with social after that), Sunday service ringing 9.00-9.30 and occasional weddings and other special events. How much does it cost? Nothing, in fact ringers receive a fee to ring for a wedding.
General information
All Saints Church is fortunate to have a well-equipped bell tower with eight bells and a cheerful band of ringers.
They can be heard every Sunday morning before the 9.30 service, and frequently ring for weddings and special occasions.
They practise on Monday evenings from 7.30pm, and new members are welcome to come along.
Bellringing is a non-competitive team activity that is highly stimulating intellectually and mildly demanding physically, and makes a beautiful sound. It develops mental and physical skills in a context of communal effort. Many people ring as a contribution to church life.
We are an active group at all stages of learning the art of ringing, and most enjoy the regular socialising that occurs after practice night. We also arrange other activities such as outings to other towers, walks, meals, bowling and so on.
For more information contact Kevin Fox.