Campanology

From Conservapedia

Campanology is the ancient art of church bell ringing and is usually just referred to as "change ringing" or "bell ringing". It originated in England and is mainly practiced in the United Kingdom. There are several important distinctions between campanology and other forms of church bell ringing:

1) The bells are rung rather chimed. Ringing a bell involves rotating the whole bell by 360 degrees. This gives a much louder sound than a chimed bell, in which the bell is swung just enough to strike the clapper. 2) The bells are rung in turn (peal) so that no two strike at once. 3) The order in which the bells are struck can be changed by ringing a "method". These methods have names like "Grandsire doubles". This is what gives rise to the name of 'change ringing' (i.e. ringing the changes).

History of change ringing

For centuries, bells have hung for chiming in churches with ropes and levers attached to the headstock from which the bell is hung; pulling on the rope makes the bell swing so that the clapper strikes the side, thus producing a note. However, in England in the 16th century these levers began to be replaced by wheels, which allow the bell to swing almost full circle. This gave the ringer much more control over when the bell strikes, and led to the development of change ringing, whereby bells are rung in systematically changing patterns.

Mechanics of change ringing

Within a church tower, the bells are hung in a bell chamber, which has louvred windows (i.e. slatted) that allow the sound to escape. The bells are held in a bell frame, generally made of steel, wood or cast iron, and each individual bell is hung from a headstock. The headstock is then attached to a wheel, which in turn has a rope attached to it; this rope is wrapped and unwrapped around the wheel as the bell is rung, and is the means by which the bell is controlled. Below the ringing chamber there are usually one or more sound chambers (empty rooms which amplify the sound; the rope that is attached to the bell passes through these and into the ringing chamber through a small hole in the ceiling. It is from the ringing chamber that the bells are rung. Each rope in the ringing chamber is hung so that the end hangs just above the floor, and has a 'sally' attached approximately 4 feet from the floor. This is a woollen grip around the rope which is about 3 feet long; its purpose is both to make the rope easier to hold and to make it easier for the ringer to see where to catch it. The end of the rope is doubled over, and referred to as the 'tail-end'.

In order to ring the bell, the ringer holds the tail end in one hand, with the end tucked into the palm. They then grasp the sally with both hands and pull down firmly, thus pulling the bell 'over the balance' so that it starts to swing. When the bell reaches the bottom of the revolution, and starts to swing back up the other side, the ringer lets go of the sally and holds onto the tail-end with both hands. When the bell has swung almost 360 degrees, it will once again reach a 'balancing point', at which point the ringer pulls down firmly on the tail-end, causing the bell to swing back round the other way again. As the bell rises up towards it's original starting point, the ringer will catch the sally in both hands once again in order to control it.