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2004

2002

The listen-again page now features a really nice photo of Carlisle Cathedral bells thanks to Charles Thornton, and some Related Links. Listen Again online

21 Dec 03 Durham Cathedral. 10 bells, 28-0-6 in D. http://www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/

"They ring Grandsire Caters". The morning service comes from here too.

14 Dec 03 Hythe, Kent: St Leonard's 10, 19-3-3 in Eb. "The original peal of eight bells was augmented to 10 when the tenor was recast by The Whitechapel Foundry in 1992 and two smaller bells provided." Some lovely ringing, but only on 8, and very short measure indeed in the evening repeat.

16 Nov Stow-on-the-Wold, Glos. St Edward. 27-2-24 in D. "The church has a ring of eight bells, with the tenor weighing 27¾ cwt, tuned to the key of D. They ring Gloucestershire Triples." The heaviest 8 in Gloucestershire. Nice ringing on bells which take a bit of ringing. Is there such a method as Gloucestershire Triples. Must look it up some time.

26 October Wells Cathedral Church of St Andrew, 10, 56-1-14 in C. The heaviest 10 in the world.

19 October 2003 Alverstoke, Hampshire, 8 bells, 13-1-19 in F#. "From St Mary with St Faith and St Francis of Alverstock (sic) in Hampshire. The church has a ring of eight bells which hang in a tower that was built in 1904 to commemorate the end of the South African War. The tenor weighs 13 cwt and is tuned to the key of F sharp. They ring Grandsire Triples." A repeat of an old recording, but not from the very excellent CD of Hampshire bells.

12 Oct Combe Martin, Devon. St Peter ad Vincula. 8, 10-0-21 F# "The 99ft high west tower is one of the finest in Devon and there is a long history of method ringing at the church, regularly hosting the practices of the St Brannocks Society. They ring Yorkshire Surprise Major." A track from the Glorious Devon Bells CD.

05 October 03 St Martin's in the Bullring, Birmingham. 16 bells 31-0-21 in D. I didn't get around to finding which bells today until I was woken by them (always have the autoalarm set for 5.30m but normally sleep right through it). Easy bells to recognise!

14 Sept Southampton, St Michael. 10 bells, 16-1-15 in F. "The back eight bells were cast by Gillett and Johnson in 1923. In 1940 Holy Rood Church, like many other buildings in Southampton, was destroyed by enemy bombing. Some of the metal salvaged from the ring of eight was used to cast 2 more bells for St. Michaels. The new bells, cast by Taylors, were installed in 1948. We hear them now ringing Spliced Bristol and London No. 3 Surprise Royal." (well it would have been if we had heard more than we did). Nice though, with an interesting introduction.

7 Sept Andover, Hants. S Mary, 8, 15-0-21 in F. From the Hampshire Bells CD.

24 August Tiverton, Devon. St Peter. 8 bells tenor 25-2-18 in D. "The church overlooks the River Exe and has one of the finest rings of eight, cast by Taylors in 1923, in the county of Devon. They ring Grandsire Triples." A track from the new "Glorious Devon Bells" CD purchased by the BBC production assistant at the recent Ringing World Roadshow.

17 August St Michael's Church, Whichford, Warwickshire. 8 bells, tenor 12-3-23 in G. (link to website about Whichford bells). Will this be a recording of the new 8, or just the same old 6 bell recording which the BBC has used many times before? They have been sent an 8-bell recording to use. We wait in hope… So, it was indeed still the old six ringing Grandsire Doubles, but introduced as ringing Grandsire Triples!! But we did have a nice long length, a very pleasant recording.

10 Aug. St Thomas the Martyr, Oxford. 10 bells, 11-2-6 in G. The bells have gradually been replaced over a period of five years and there are now ten bells. The tenor weighs 11 cwt. They ring Splice (I guess they mean Spliced) Surprise Royal.
3 August Alton, Hants. St Lawrence, 8 bells, tenor 18-1-20 in E. "From the church of St Lawrence, Alton in Hampshire. A ring of eight bells has hung in this tower since 1785, when Thomas Janaway cast and installed the first octave. The treble was recast in 1803 and the 7th in 1890. In 1926 Gillett and Johnston replaced the old octave with the present bells and hung them in a new steel frame. The bells are generally reckoned to be the best ring of eight in the county. They ring Bristol Surprise Major." Another track of the excellent Hampshire Bells CD.

27 July St Paul's Cathedral. "From St Paul’s Cathedral, London. The present ring of 12, cast in 1878, is the heaviest in the country, with the tenor weighing 62 cwt. They ring Stedman Cinques." Oh dear will they never get it right. Zeb Soanes has a lovely voice, but proudly introduced "Stedman Sank". Surely this pratfall should be built into the system for all announcers to get it right. We ringers say "Stedman Sinks", Zeb.

20 July Ilmington, Warwicks. St Mary 6 bells tenor 13 cwt in E, ringing Plain Bob Doubles. The text failed to get onto the website but the Listen Again facility was correct. Now a very nice eight bells, (with a band who regularly win the local striking competition) but unfortunately BOS continue to use the old recording.

13 July Guildford Holy Trinity "From Holy Trinity Church in Guildford. The tenor weighs over 23cwt and is tuned to the key of D. It has a ring of 8 bells. The bells will play Grandsire Triples". Well Alan Smith, the Continuity Announcer corrected the 'will play' to 'are ringing' but then we were treated to a full minute of rounds…. ! There was a very tongue-in-cheek bit on Radio 4's Feedback about this. I have written, once again, to the broadcast assistant to explain the problem.

6 July 2003 "From Rochester Cathedral, Kent. The first bells were probably in the original Saxon cathedral founded by St Augustine in 604 AD. The tower was rebuilt for the 1300th anniversary in 1904 to include eight bells. In 1921 the Dean and Chapter commissioned Gillett and Johnston of Croydon to recast the existing eight bells and to add two more to bring the number of bells to ten. They ring Stedman Caters. " and a link to Rochester Cathedral Company of Bell Ringers

29 June "St Chad Farndon Chester (sic) 8 bells Tenor 12cwt in the key of F. The present bells date back to 1841 and were restored in 1889 to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. Ringing Plain Bob Minor." Thanks to Jim Rooke again I now have this information which I had missed due to a holiday.. He says that they were ringing Major, not Minor (again, this also happened in June 2002).

22 June 2003 Bridlington Priory Church of St Mary, Humbs. 8 bells, tenor 26-2-14 in D. "From Bridlington Priory, East Yorkshire. The ring of eight bells was cast in 1902 and an old penny was cast in the head of each bell. The original three bells were hung over 250 years ago and the tenor weighs 26cwt.
They ring rounds and call changes." Remarkable effect of some changes appearing on one stroke and disappearing again on the other. Can this have been called changes or was it just really poor striking? Maybe the bells are very difficult to handle? A letter in RW later clarified the situation - apparently there was an outside broadcast team recording a service and asked for a bit of ringing but used the first bit 'before the ringing settled down'. Oh dear, perfect quality of recording but BBC does not recognise sub-standard ringing.

15 June 2003 All Saints Church, Basingstoke, Hampshire. "The bells are a complete Warner Ring, of eight with an extra bell to give an alternate octave in a minor key to be run (sic) during Lent, cast in 1916. In 1946 these bells were first peeled (sic) as a ring of nine and started a Central Council controversy over uncovered, odd-bell peals which was not finally settled until 1973. In 2000 they were tuned and rehung on new fittings by Taylors. They ring a bob course of Grandsire(s sic) Caters" without a covering bell, from the Hampshire Bells CD. Pity the announcer's/script writer's bloopers crept in again today.

08 June 2003 St Nicholas' Church, Sandhurst, Kent. 6 Bells, 12-1-10 in F# "St Nicholas' Church, a medieval church that dates back to the 13th century, has a ring of six bells which run in an anti-clockwise direction. The tenor weighs over 12cwt and is tuned to the key of F sharp. They ring Grandsire Doubles. "

01 June 2003 Canterbury Cathedral, Kent. 14 bells, 34-3-4 in C#. "The Church Bells of Kent website has details of bell ringing at Canterbury Cathedral." A replaying of the rounds on 12. The BBCi website has a link to the Kent County website, which is good. The introduction on the Listen Again facility (click above) has some interesting facts about the history of the bells.

25 May 2003 Daresbury, Cheshire, All Saints. 8 bells, tenor 16-1-5 in E. The introduction said: "From All Saints Church, Daresbury, North Cheshire. The parish is the birthplace of the author Lewis Carroll, whose father, the Reverend Charles Dodgson was vicar in 1832. The tower dates from 1550 and has a ring of eight bells, which was cast in 1913. The tenor is tuned to the key of E and weighs 16 cwt. They ring a series of rounds and call changes. " but most of it was rounds!

18 May 2003 Durweston, Dorset, St Nicholas. 6 bells, tenor 9-3-12 in F# another repeat. "From from St Nicholas Church, Durweston, Dorset. The present ring of six bells was hung in 1911. The tenor weighs 10 cwt. The bells ring some call changes."

11 May 2003 Far Headingley, Leeds, St Chad. 8 bells, tenor 18-2-13 in E. They were ringing called changes. "From from St Chad's Church, Far Headingly, Leeds. The church was built in 1867 and its spire reaches 186 feet high. There is a ring of eight bells and the tenor weighs 18 cwt and is tuned to the key of E."

4 May 2003 Winchester Cathedral from the same CD. "From from The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, St Peter, St Paul and St Swithun Winchester, Hampshire. These are the first true diatonic ring of 14 bells, with the original 1936 set of 12 bells augmented to 14 in 1993. The tenor weighs 35 cwt and is tuned to the note of C. The eight largest bells are still hung in the old 1734 wooden frame, which moves around as the bells are being rung making excellent ringing very difficult to achieve. They ring a plain course of Erin Sextuples."

27 April 2003. St Mary's Church Bentley, Hampshire. 6 bells, tenor 12-3-18 in E. is the recording from the excellent Hampshire Bells CD by Roy LeMarechal and friends. "Samuel Knight recast the four bells into a ring of five in 1703. Gillett and Jonston, in 1912, retuned the heaviest two bells and, using some of the metal from the other three bells, cast four new bells. This ring was then hung in a new, cast iron, eight-bell frame. They ring Double Oxford Bob Minor."

20 April Easter Sunday York Minster. 14 bells, tenor 59-1-23 in Bb. "The Minster had two rings of bells up to the 17th century: the heavy ring of eight in the South West Tower and the light ring of four in the North West Tower. In 1656 they were combined into one ring of 12. They ring Plain Bob Triples." Grand ringing - and 1 min 46sec of actual bells .

13 April 2003 Selby Abbey Church of St Mary and St German. 10 bells, 25-2-20 in D. again. "From Selby Abbey in North Yorkshire. The bells were cast in 1909 by John Taylor, the largest weighing 25 cwt. They ring Rounds and Call Changes."

23 March 2003 Howden Minster, East Yorkshire. "The tenor, which dates back to the 1940s, weighs over 22 cwt and is tuned to the key of E flat. It has a ring of eight bells which are hung low in the tower, giving them a better sound. They ring Stedman Triples." Another repeat. What's happened to all the recordings I have sent up?

16 March 2003 Dublin, St Patrick's Cathedral. 14 bells tenor 45-1-18 in C. "The first record of bells is in a papal petition from 1363. The cathedral was presented with a peal of ten bells in 1897. The tenor bell weighs two and three quarter tons and was rung every Sunday for many years by the Right Hon R R Cherry, Chief Justice of Ireland, who presented two bells in 1909 to augment the peal to twelve. In 1925 Lady Seeds Kaye added a top A bell in memory of her husband and so there are 14 bells in the ringing peal. " They rang nice rounds on 12 and just into what might have been Plain Bob Cinques.

2 March Radyr Cardiff, Christchurch: 8 bells, tenor 12-0-15 in G. "The bells were dedicated in 1912. There are eight bells in total, with the tenor weighing 12 cwt. They ring Stedman Triples."

23 Feb 2003 St Lawrence Jewry, London. 8 bells 24-3-2 in Eb. Text of the broadcast as on BBCi website "The church was built by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire and its original ring of six bells was increased to eight in 1710. However, when these bells were destroyed in a fire in December 1940, the metal was saved and recast into the present ring of eight. They ring Spliced Surprise Major". But also a mention on the Radio 4 Newsletter, I ask you! :" Load of Bells - No, Bells on Sunday hasn't wandered into the Land of Sherrin. They really will be ringing Spliced Surprise Major this week".

6 Feb 2003 Wambrook, Somerset, Blessed Virgin Mary. 5 bells tenor 9cwt in A. another recording which we have heard before - but nice to have an opportunity to hear 5 bells. "The tenor weighs 8 cwt and is tuned to the key of A. It was cast in the 16th century by Thomas Jefferies. There is a ring of 5 bells, with the oldest dating from the 14th century. They ring Winchendon Place Doubles. "

9 Feb 2003 The website introduction (link above) says "From St Nicholas Church, Leeds, Kent. It is a ring of ten bells. The tenor weighs 17½ cwt and is tuned to the key of E. They ring Kent Bob Triples. " Is there such a method? Radio Times says from St Nicholas Sevenoaks, Kent. The continuity announcer introduced them as St Nicholas' Sevenoaks with no further information, and it sounds at first listening, very like Stedman Triples to me. Can anyone throw any light on this confusion? I seem to remember this is a repeat - we have had this confusion over the Leeds recording (10) before. If anyone can clear it up I will try again to email them the correction. For next time !

26 January 2003 SS Peter& Paul, Tonbridge, Kent. 8 bells tenor 19-1-0 in Eb. "The present ring of eight bells were cast in 1770 and recast in the 1950s. They are still hung in their original wooden frame. The tenor weighs 19cwt and is tuned to the key of E (sic). They ring Grandsire Triples. "

19 January 2003 From Lichfield Cathedral. 10 bells, tenor 31-2-9 in D. "There have been bells at the cathedral for at least 800 years and there has been a set of ten bells since 1688, the first complete ring of ten bells, all cast by one founder. The present heavy ring was cast by John Taylor and Co of Loughborough in 1947, a gift from the Freemasons of Staffordshire to commemorate the 750th anniversary of the Cathedral. They play (sic) Grandsire Caters." Short measure in the morning which would actually have fitted the old 2min Listen-again slot, but a lovely long stretch in the evening, over 2 minutes, instead of 'Sailing By'. Well done that man!

12 January 2003 From Durham Cathedral. The tower contains a ring of ten bells. The tenor weighs 28cwt and is tuned to the key of D. They ring Grandsire Caters.

5 January 2003 St Mary's Bishopstoke, Hampshire the recording off the very good Bells of Hampshire CD

2004 2002

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