The Bells of St Mary’s
Based on the original Guide. Photos by Antony Boulton and Paul Wigmore
John Betjeman knew St Mary's, in the village of Bitton. A lover of the sound of church bells, it was only natural that he should write a poem about these rather special ones. We have quoted it below.
And if you would like to come and see the church, hear the bells rung, you will be welcomed on practice nights, Mondays from 7.45 till 9.00. Special occasions apart, ringing days are 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays of the month.
Bells are long-lived. Three of the bells that hang in the tower of St Mary’s, Bitton, were being made in the year that Galileo was on trial for saying the earth moved round the sun, the year when Mrs Pepys gave birth to Samuel. That year was 1633.
Tuneful and pleasant
From church to church, bells can sound very different. The eight bells of St Mary’s, in the key of E, are noted for their tuneful and pleasant tone. The Tenor weighs 14cwt (711kg).
John Betjeman and Bitton's bells
John Betjeman often brought church bells into his poetry. He called his autobiographical poem Summoned by Bells.
Green upon the flooded Avon shone the after-storm-wet sky
Quick the struggling withy branches let the leaves of autumn fly
And a star shone over Bristol, wonderfully far and high.
Ringers in an oil-lit belfry - Bitton? Kelston? who shall say? -
Smoothly practising a plain course, caverned out the dying day
As their melancholy music flooded up and ebbed away.
Then all Somerset was round me and I saw the clippers ride,
High above the moonlit houses, triple-masted on the tide,
By the tall embattled church-towers of the Bristol waterside.
And an undersong to branches dripping into pools and wells
Out of multitudes of elm trees over leagues of hills and dells
Was the mathematic pattern of a plain course on the bells.
How bells work
In case you are unfamiliar with church bells: each bell hangs with its clapper hanging loose. In this position it is said to be ‘Down’. Before the bells can be rung, ringers separately, from down below in the ringing chamber, have to pull on their rope and make the bell swing gradually higher and higher until it is pointing upwards, where it rests. When all the bells have been ‘rung up’ like this, the ringers are ready to begin.
Until 1936 the St Mary’s ring was of six bells and they were hung on wooden frames. The six bells were restored and rehung; two new treble bells were added in memory of Blanche Ellen Taylor, the wife of Frank Henning William Taylor, MA, who was vicar of Bitton at that time.
The bells were rehung on metal frames and ball-bearing mountings and the original six were brought in tune with the two new ones. The bells were dedicated on 5th December, 1936.
The original six bells
Treble 1694 6cwt; 2 1633 7cwt; 3 1633 7cwt; 4qtr; 4 1669 9cwt; 5 1740 11cwt 2qtr; Tenor 1913 18cwt
The eight bells today
Treble 1936 4cwt 2qtr 16lb; 2 1936 5cwt 1qtr 3lb; 3 1694 3cwt 3qtr 22lb; 4 1633 6cwt 2qtr 8lb; 5 1633 7cwt 0qtr 6lb; 6 1740 8cwt 2qtr 20lb; Tenor 1917 14cwt 2qtr 11lb
It will be noticed that the overall weight of the present back bells was reduced quite considerably, particularly the tenor, which was reduced by 3.5 cwt. The bells were made smaller by a method known as ‘chip tuning’; this is the skilful removal of large chips of metal from the outer rim of the bell until its note and tone are correct. It is also believed that some form of ‘skimming’ of the bells was done.
Inscriptions on the bells
Treble I was added to this ring by sev. gifts, 1694 procured by L. Bush and and Reg. Harding L.C.; 2nd W.H.A.B., Anno dommin [sic], 1633; 3rd W.H.A.B., anno domini. 1633; 4th Robert Anthony Woodward, C.W., 1669, W.P.R.P.5th Mr John Palmer and Richard Francis, churchwardens, 174o; Tenor Come when I call to serve God all, 1633 W.H.A.B.
Ringers often left records of their performances in the form of painted peal boards (see illustration below) which still hang in the belfries of great cathedrals and quiet village churches throughout the country. At St Mary’s, Bitton, the first peal we know of - from one of these painted boards - was a ‘Date Peal’ consisting of 1871 changes, rung on the original six bells on December 26th, 1871.
‘Bellringers Rules’
The notice below was posted on the ringing chamber wall in 1799:
Inside the ringing chamber
Two of the eight bellropes hang, waiting for duty. Notice the small red spot at the far end of the coat rack. This is a bell: when a wedding is in progress the ringers cannot see what’s happening below, so they need the signal bell to tell them when the moment has come for them to start ringing.
The Ellacombe Chimes
At Bitton we have the original Ellacombe Chimes. The Rev. H.T. Ellacombe, Vicar of Bitton from 1817 to 1850, wanted some means of enabling the bells to be rung by one person. When this method is used, the bells remain ‘still’ (in the down position) and are struck on the inside of the rim by hammers attached to ropes. The ropes are housed in a frame on the wall of the church porch; just one person is thus able to ring the bells. Over the years, several methods of chiming have been devised but the ‘Bitton Method’ is said to be kindest to the bells and the least likely to cause damage.
In the church Porch
In the church porch. The frame holds the eight ropes leading up to the bell chamber.
In the Bell Chamber
Here, the bells have been ‘rung up’ and it is easy to see the hammer for one of them, also the lever and the rope that descends to the porch.
Ellacombe's own words
In his history of Bitton, published in 1881, Ellacombe writes:
In the basement of the [St Mary’s Bitton] tower is a manual within a case for chiming the bells for services by means of a hammer striking the insideof the bell. This was set up in 1822. The method was suggested to me by Sam Watts, a clever workman, and is supposed to be the first thing of that sort. Since that time the contrivance has been set up in about 200 towers.
All round the western world the name of Ellacombe is known; the phrase ‘Ellacombe-type chimes’ can be found over and over again in church documents. If you are interested in Ellacombe and his work you will want to read his book, 'Practical Remarks on Belfries and Ringers, With an Appendix on Chiming'.
A brief history of bellringing
Handel has been credited with saying that the bell is the English national instrument and centuries ago England was called the ‘Ringing Isle’.
Only in England did the idea develop of having a number of men to ring the bells as a team and, consequently, this led to a uniquely English way of hanging bells and change ringing.
Change ringing would seem to have started in London or Norwich towards the middle of the 17th century, then slowly spread across the country and to many corners of the English-speaking world. It became a fashionable pastime in the early 18th century in London and many of the larger towns, but by the second half of the 19th century ringing had sunk to a low ebb and ringers had fallen far in the public estimation. It was at this time that the church generally began to take an active interest in its belfries. A number of clergy felt that the time had come for drastic reform and, as a result, there began to be founded the various diocesan ringers’ associations, which encouraged the art of change ringing. The art, as a result, acquired new life and, with active interest and support of many clergy, became at last firmly associated with the church whose towers and bells it had used for so long. Much of the terminology used today remains unchanged from the early 18th century.