Bells have been rung in our tower since it was built about 650 years ago. Originally
bells were only swung through a small angle (chimed) in a rather uncontrolled
way. This is still the practice in most countries but in England the mechanisms
were adapted to swing the bells higher and higher. The original arms,
or levers, that swung them evolved first into 1/2 wheels, then full wheels.
This full circle mechanism allowed the bell to be swung through 360 degrees
with the ability to let them come to rest upside down just past their
point of balance at each end of the 'swing'. This allows much more control
over the bell and the sound carries much further because the clapper strikes
when the bell mouth is horizontal.
Extract from the current Encyclopaedia Britannica
Change Ringing:
traditional English art of ringing a set of tower bells in an intricate
series of changes, or mathematical permutations (different orderings in
the ringing sequence), by pulling ropes attached to bell wheels. On five,
six, or seven bells, a peal is the maximum number of permutations possible
(120, 720, and 5,040, respectively); on more than seven bells, the full
extent of possible changes is impracticable, so that 5,000 or more changes
are said to constitute a peal. The number of possible changes on any series
of bells may be determined, using the mathematical formula of permutations,
by multiplying the number of the bells together. On 3 bells, only 6 changes,
or variations, in the order 1 2 3 can be produced; on 5 bells, 1 2 3 4
5 = 120; and so on up to the astronomical total of 479,001,600 changes
on 12 bells. A touch is any number short of a peal.
In ringing a peal, no bell moves more than one place forward or backward
in the ringing order in each successive change, nor is it repeated or
omitted, nor is any sequence (change) repeated. A set, or ring, of 4 bells
is known as Minimus, or Singles; 5, Doubles; 6, Minor; 7, Triples; 8,
Major; 9, Caters; 10, Royal; 11, Cinques; and 12, Maximus. A complete
peal of 4 bells (24 changes), requires about 30 seconds; one of 12 bells
(479,001,600 changes), about 40 years. A system of permutation is called
a method; the entire ringing fraternity, the exercise.
Groups of swinging bells in English church towers date from the 10th century,
and, at least by the 15th, orderly ringing took place involving changing
note patterns. This practice evolved from first rendering descending scales
(called rounds). The practice was stimulated by the Reformation in England,
and it remains particularly associated with the Anglican church. By the
17th century, intricate mathematical formulas had evolved.
Change ringing was originally a gentleman's recreation. Its early participants,
aristocrats and intelligentsia, often students, were later joined by ecclesiastics,
labourers, and others. Women were excluded, and participation was a mark
of social status. The first society, or ringing organization, the Ancient
Society of College Youths, was founded in 1637. The earliest treatises
on the subject were Fabian Stedman's Tintinnalogia (1668) and his Campanologia
(1677), which introduced his Grandsire Method and his Stedman's Principle
(a method).
When swung, change-ringing bells rotate slightly less than 360. A bell
is gradually swung back and forth until it reaches a nearly vertical balance
position with the mouth of the bell uppermost. Handstroke (a pull on the
rope that rotates the bell almost 360 to the other balance position) alternates
with backstroke (a pull on the rope that returns the bell to its initial
position), two successive revolutions constituting a whole pull.
In the ringing sequence a bell makes three basic movements:
(1) It "hunts," or changes position one place forward or backward
and continuing in the same direction. "Hunting up" is moving
toward last place, called "behind;" "hunting down,"
toward first place, in which a bell "leads."
(2) It "dodges" by suddenly reversing course--taking a step
backward in the hunt, then proceeding in the original direction.
(3) It "makes a place" by remaining in the same position it
occupied in the previous change (also called "lying still");
this term refers to a bell in an inside position, rather than at lead
or behind.
A bell's movement is its "duty," and various methods are identified
by the duty given each bell. In plain hunting, a bell moves change by
change toward last place, where it lies behind for an additional stroke;
it then moves toward first place, where it leads for a whole pull, or
two strokes.
Change-ringing bells are relatively short waisted, ..............., they
are tuned in just intonation (pitches derived from certain ratios rather
than from equal division of the octave). Until the end of the 19th century,
tuning of their partials (component tones) was not seriously undertaken
and so lacked uniformity. The largest and last bell in a ring is the tenor;
the smallest, the treble. Most tenor bells range from several hundred
pounds to two tons; that of the Cathedral Church of Christ, Liverpool,
weighs 4.6 tons. The two founders, both English, who cast bells for change
ringing are the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and John Taylor and Company of
Loughborough, Leicestershire, Eng.