The Parish Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, St. Osyth, Essex

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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

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!'