St Mary and St Gabriel
Sharing the love of God
The Rev. H D Gordon records that the four original bells were re-cast in 1782 and two more were cast to make a ring of six. All are marked CHAPMAN & MEARS OF LONDON FECERUNT 1782.
The bells range from a few hundredweight to the tenor bell which, with its headstock, weighs about three quarters of a ton.
Bell Ringing
Most of us have watched our bell-ringers in action, not all of us are aware of the complex system existing up in the belfry which gives us the joyful sound.
Originally, church bells were rung by a simple pull which started them swinging. There was no method of varying the order in which they sounded.
During the 1500s a mechanism was developed in England whereby bells could be stopped and started at will: this enabled them to be rung in different sequences, hence ‘change-ringing’.
In this position the bell is ‘down’
- the bell is attached to the headstock which is fixed to the wheel
- the headstock runs on bearings carried by the frame
- the stay is also fixed to the headstock
Harting's band of ringers rang in the Millennium and often herald the start of the New Year and the Festivities.