Bell ringing

THE RECENT SUCCESS by the six-member team of bell ringers from the Abbey Church in winning the annual Lincoln Diocesan Guild ringing competition is a reminder of the popularity of campanology and the affectionate place it holds in our history.

There is a peal of six bells in the tower, cast in 1729 by Rudhalls of Gloucester. They were commissioned and installed during the incumbency of the Rev William Dodd, who was vicar from 1727-56, and whose name is inscribed on the treble or first bell. His three churchwardens at that time were John Hardwicke, Lyon Faulkner and James Ley, and their names can be found on the tenor or great bell in the key of G which is reckoned to weigh 15 cwt. The six bells are inscribed as follows:

No 1 weighing 14½ cwt: William Dodd, Vicar, 1729 Surge age (Rise and act);

No 2 weighing 10½ cwt: 1729 Laudo Deum Verum (Praise the true God);

No 3 weighing 8 cwt: Et Clamor ad coalos, Henricus Penn, fusor 1729 (And I call to heaven, Henry Penn, founder);

No 4 weighing 7 cwt: Ut Mundus sit nos nuno laetitiam nunc delerem 1729 (Whether the world be joyful or doleful);

No 5 weighing 6 cwt: Plebem voco congrego clerum, Henricus Penn, fusor (I call the people and gather the clergy, Henry Penn, founder);

No 6 weighing 15 cwt: Defunctos plange, vivos moneo (I bewail the dead, I warn the living). John Hardwick, Lyon Faulkner and James Lay, churchwardens.

The total weight is 61 cwt, 1 cwt being 112 lb and there are 20 to the ton (avoirdupois). Henry Penn was the most famous of the country’s makers, working from his foundry in Peterborough, and he achieved particular fame by casting one of the bells, weighing just over 12 cwt, for Lincoln Cathedral which was delivered by a raft on the Car Dyke, passing through Dyke village in 1717, which indicates that the waterway was still navigable more than 1,500 years after it was built by the Romans.

There was tremendous excitement in the parish when the bells were installed at the Abbey Church and ringers were easily recruited to use them, becoming extremely efficient in a short space of time and soon winning a reputation for their skill. John Hurn Dove of Cawthorpe recorded in his journal: “The ringers of the church almost immediately became celebrated and on 21st February 1745, they rang the bells to the peals of Crown Bob, College Pleasure and College Treble Bob, a feat rarely accomplished, and have since taken part in many peals at other churches in the neighbourhood.”

The bells were completely re-hung in 1805 by Mr Cabors of Strugg's Hill, Sutterton, Lincolnshire. His work was so well known that he was reputed to have restored the greater part of the peals in this country and whose work at Bourne lasted intermittently for half a century. They were partly re-hung in 1852 but the work was carried out on the wrong principle and the vibration of the bells had a damaging effect on the tower. A church vestry meeting was held on 27th October 1864 when a proposal from the churchwardens, Thomas Mawby and Henry Bott, to have them re-hung in a correct manner, was agreed. This time, the work was entrusted to the bell founders Mears and Stainbank of London at a cost of £495, money raised by public subscription, and was completed early in the New Year although there were difficulties in collecting all of the money promised.

The bells at the Abbey Church were last removed in 1926 when the tower fell silent for six months after they were taken by lorry to Croydon for re-tuning and maintenance at Messrs Gillett and Johnson's foundry and a fund was opened to pay for the restoration. The clappers were re-modelled and the bells eventually re-hung on ball bearings in a dust proof housing to make the task of ringers less arduous in the future. It was reported at the time of their removal: "Over the years, the bells have been put to various uses, some of their number having done duty as the passing bell, the pancake bell, the labour bell and the curfew bell. From time immemorial, the labour bell was rung at 6 a m in the morning, except during December, and the curfew bell was rung every evening at 8 p m" - both practices which have long fallen into disuse.

Over the years, the bells have been sounded on a variety of occasions for celebration and mourning, for weddings and royal birthdays, the end of wars and even the arrival of a new vicar such as that on Tuesday 23rd Oct 1877 when a special peal was rung to welcome the Rev George Massey, from Uley near Dursley in Gloucestershire, who officiated until 1881.

The present Ringers' Gallery was erected at the Abbey Church within the south west tower in 1979. Previously, the bells had been rung from the floor. The system was changed to facilitate easier ringing and also to provide an exhibition and book area for the church which now exists underneath.

One of the oldest known persons to ring the bells at the Abbey Church was Mr Thomas Taylor, the senior ringer, who died on Saturday 16th February 1889 at the age of 83. He had been at the church for more than 60 years and could describe graphically events that had taken place there and in the town for the previous 75 years. As a young man, he was one of the pall bearers at the funeral of Lady Catherine Digby, tenant of the Red Hall, who died in 1836. When Mr Taylor died, a dumb peal was rung on the bells on the evening of his funeral.

Many celebratory and record peals of the bells of the Abbey Church were organised by the well-known ringer John Lake (1875-1965) who was team captain for many years during the early 20th century. He also rang the bells at many churches in the neighbourhood, believing that campanology was not only an enjoyable pastime but also a fellowship of those who participated. He was born into a farming family in 1875 at a cottage in Bourne Fen and became a joiner and wheelwright, working at Witham-on-the-Hill and Little Bytham. He later moved to live in South Street then West Street, retiring when he was 69, but continued bell-ringing until he died at the Butterfield Hospital in 1965, aged 89.

There is little doubt that bell ringing is a companionable pastime, bringing together expertise, dedication and fellowship. But it has also been known to be dangerous. While ringing one of the bells at the Abbey Church on the evening of Monday 18th February 1895, John Howe, a hairdresser, of Church Street [now Abbey Road], met with a serious accident. A local newspaper reported: “He was taken up by the bell rope and fell down from a great height. His right leg was broken just above the ankle. Dr John Gilpin was speedily in attendance and skilfully attended the injury which is of a severe nature.”