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At
the present time the tower of St Peter & St Paul has six
bells. In 1546 the tower was known to have four bells which
were rehung about this time. By 1552 there were five bells and
a Sanctus. Miles Gray III of Colchester recast at least four
of the bells in 1663, three of them - the third, fourth and
tenor - survive today. Richard Phelps recast the second bell
in 1721 and in 1781 William Chapman of Whitechapel added a new
treble bell. The last major works to be done was in 1889 by
Bowell of Ipswich.
In
2004, after 2 years hard work, funds were raised, with the help
of grants and local village fundraising, and the bells were
rehung by Whites of Appleton. A new Tenor Bell was cast to replace
the original cracked Tenor; this was repaired and now hangs
in the sound chamber and is used as a tolling bell at funerals.
The new Tenor pictured above, has an inscription - 'Given by
the People of the Parish of St Osyth To The Glory of God in
the Year of Our Lord MMIV'. This recognises the work to raise
funds by the village and church.
Parishioners
and visitors are able to view the bells ringing via close circuit
TV in the welcome area near the main north entrance.
If
you would like to try bell ringing please contact me to ask
for more details or come along on to the church on Tuesday evenings
between 7.30 - 9pm. If you are fit and healthy you are never
too old to try something new! Anyone can ring from age 11/12;
it all depends on height and stature and being able to reach
the 'sally' comfortably. Ringers should be reasonably fit and
able to count up to 6 and back and ring at the same time. The
oldest ringer in England is 100 and still ringing! We have a
wide age range in our own team. As the article below says, would-be
ringers should not be put off if they are not themselves active
church-goers!
Brenda
Lord, 01255 820458
Brenda_lord@farming.co.uk
 |
Pictured
left is the stained glass window in the Bell Ringers Chamber
which was installed in March 2010 in memory of
CHRIS
PAGE, 1947-2007
Verger
of this church for many years.
The
window was made by Essex artist and conservator Benjamin
Finn (http://www.stpetersstainedglass.co.uk/contact.php)
The
window was featured in the BBC Songs of Praise programme
on 21st March 2010 - the same day that the window was
dedicated during a special service.
|
What
follows is an article on the history of bells and ringing. Dr
Peter H. Mackie Deputy Tower Captain of St Giles Church, Stoke
Poges, wrote it and he has kindly allowed me to copy part of
it.
'Have
you ever wondered, as you walk along the path to the Church,
just before the service begins, how the bells are rung and how
they produce their sound? You might feel that bell ringing is
shrouded in mystery, that visitors to the tower are not welcome,
and that our church always has enough ringers. This is far from
the truth and the following article may inspire you to come
along and have a go.
The
history of bells extends back almost to the dawn of civilisation,
when crude metallic objects were sounded to ward off evil spirits,
or perhaps to alter the weather, or to mark festive occasions.
In medieval times the craft of bell founding began to develop
and bells were hung in towers especially for them. To begin
with the bells were hung downwards, but it was soon realised
that by swinging the bell through a wider and wider arc a progressively
fuller and richer tone was produced. To enable a bell to be
swung in this way a wheel was attached and a rope tied to the
wheel, so that the ringer could control the swing of the bell
to some extent.
In
the sixteenth century ringers developed a system of full-circle
ringing, so that the bell starts from a mouth upward position,
swings through a full circle and comes to rest mouth upwards
again before swinging back full-circle in the opposite direction.
It was realised that a ringer had some control over the bell's
movement by varying the time during which it was held on the
balance with the mouth upwards. Change ringing developed by
altering the sequence in which the bells in the tower were sounded.
Bell ringing in those days was mainly a secular activity, practised
by the squires and nobility. Some of the first ringing societies
were founded at that time - the oldest society still in existence
founded by Lord Brereton in 1637.
In
the nineteenth century ringing became increasingly identified
with the Church, with most ringing peals being hung in church
towers, and rung to mark Sunday services, weddings and so on.
With improvements in bell hanging, ringing ceased to be physically
arduous and ladies joined the ranks of ringers around the turn
of the century. More complex methods of producing changes (the
permutations of the order in which the bells strike) were developed
and many challenging possibilities were opened up.
Nowadays,
bell ringing is firmly established as a Church based activity,
although many ringers pursue their hobby at other times as well
- on practice nights and ringing for special occasions .The
bells primary function is to call the faithful to worship and
to proclaim the Churches gospel far and wide. However, would-be
ringers should not be put off if they are not themselves active
church-goers!'
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