Bells, belfries and bellringing
John K. Best-Shaw and Dagmar Batterbee introduce the history of bells and bellringing at Rochester Cathedral, with a foreword by Dean of Rochester Adrian Newman. Publication by The Friends of Rochester Cathedral.
In my previous post as Rector of St. Martin in the Bull Ring, I found myself presiding over a tower of sixteen bells, one of only three such towers around the world. It introduced me to the hitherto unexplored territory of bell-ringing and opened my eyes to the wonders of a world that to most of us exists out of sight, tucked invisibly away in the mysterious labyrinths of the bell-tower.
Most people hear bells without listening to them, still less understanding the complex art of change ringing. Like many forms of music, hidden within the tunes you discover an extraordinary array of mathematical patterns. Bell-ringing brings together the left and right sides of the brain - it is a heady mix of soaring artistic expression and hard-edged mathematical logic, all played out - literally - on the evocative metallic form of ancient bells.
I hope that you enjoy this booklet about Rochester's bells and that it might inspire you to listen next time you hear them. For theirs is a rich history and they continue to call us to worship and wonder.
Adrian Newman
Dean of Rochester
Bells and how they came to be
Bells have been used in many countries from the beginning of the Christian era, as the Byzantine campaniles of the fifth century, in eastern Italy, still bear evidence. Bell towers, of even more simple construction, from the eighth century, still exist in Ireland, where they were used to recall the monks to prayer from work in the fields. In Kent an example of the free-standing tower can still be seen beside the church of Brookland, in Romney Marsh. With the development of architectural and engineering prowess, during the Middle Ages, the tower, or belfry, became incorporated into the structure of the church or cathedral.
Bells were used, not only as a call to prayer for both ecclesiastics and laity, and as a summons to work, but as means of announcing to the community some epoch-making event, a festival of rejoicing or as an alarm, a warning of fire, flood or enemy attack. Records of the casting of bells in English churches exist only from the tenth century.
Different bells would denote different services and purposes by varying tones and the long tradition of bells on Sunday for Matins at 7.00, Mass at 8.00, Sanctus at 1.00 and Ave at 6.00 could be heard until quite recently in some villages. The weekday tradition consisted of a morning and evening Ave, the latter being also known as the Curfew, is of secular origin. There were other local and seasonal uses such as the Pancake Bell on Shrove Tuesday to call the faithful to confession before Lent, or the Gleaning Bell after harvesting. The Passing Bell or Death Knell, is a legacy still to be heard and in the tolling 'tellers indicate the sex of the departed one by means of 3x3 stroke man and 3x2 for a woman.
The bells of Rochester Cathedral have rung across the centuries, in times of war and peace, of prosperity or adversity, sounding and resounding their messages of joy, sorrow, dread and danger. Their uplifting tones rising above the Medway, have stirred the minds and hearts of generations, calling them together in unity of thought and marking moments in time more powerfully, tunefully and with more magnetism than all the measurements of time which science has created. There are now ten bells in the tower with space for two more.
History of the Cathedral bells
The earliest references to bells in Rochester Cathedral are recorded in the Registrum Roffense and in the chronicles of William of Dene in Anglia Sacra. These references refer to bells that were in the original Saxon Cathedral founded by Saint Augustine, under King Ethelbert, in 604 A.D.
When, in the 11th century[1], the tower, now called the Gundulf Tower was constructed to dominate and guard the River Medway, bells were incorporated, making this a watch tower in the true sense. The earliest reference to bells in this period is in a document dated 1154, which reads that Prior Reginald made two bells and put them in the greater tower. Subsequently Talbot the Sacrist, according to another document, was responsible for another bell (and a clock) and to this day one of the bells is named after him. There are references in 12th century documents to money being given for two more bells.
Read more about the history and archaeology of the medieval bells and bell towers:
The bells and bell towers in the early 13th century
Colin Flight pieces together the evidence for the bells and bell towers of the Cathedral in the early thirteenth century.
EXPLORE
About 1343 Bishop Hamo de Hythe had the central tower heightened and four bells hung in it under a spire were named, according to records: Dunstan, Paulinus, Ithamar and Lanfranc. St. Dunstan became patron saint of metal workers and bell founders and had close association with the Cathedral as Bishop; in the tenth century he became Archbishop of Canterbury. Paulinus, a missionary bishop, was apostle to Northumbria and became Bishop of York. In 644 he translated to Rochester. Here he was buried in the original Saxon cathedral of the Blessed Apostle Andrew founded by Ethelbert in 604. Ithamar, another Bishop of Rochester, of the seventh century, had the distinction of being the first Englishman to be appointed to an English See. There is a chapel dedicated to him in the crypt. Lanfranc was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by William the Conqueror in the 11th century, having been summoned from the Abbaye du Bec in northern France to reform the church in England. A great scholar and ecclesiastic, he had a formulating influence on the English way of life. He brought with him Gundulf who, as Bishop of Rochester, rebuilt the cathedral.
A publication by L. N. Cottingham featuring (fig 1) a reconstruction elevation drawing of Hamo de Hythe’s C14th crossing tower, (fig 2) the C19th crossing tower, and (figs. A-K) fragments recovered from the C14th tower on which the reconstruction was based.
By 1545 the number of bells in the central tower had increased to six and the Gundulf tower was no longer used as a bell tower. It is assumed that the six bells then in the tower, though recast, contained much of the original metal from the time of Gundulf onwards.
In the 17th and 18th centuries all but the second bell appear to have been recast and again in the 19th century various bells needed work carried out on them. During this time span Rochester Cathedral acquired a very heavy ring of six bells.
The oriel window of Rochester Cathedral Chapter Library was restored c.1907 with grotesques from the recently demolished bell tower dating to c.1829 (DRc/Ac/22, DRc/Emf/73/8). Open all
On 30th November, 1904, the 1300th anniversary of the foundation of the Cathedral, a newly erected tower and spire were dedicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Randall Davidson. The new spire followed the same construction as that of the 14th century, which had been removed some 80 years earlier.
3D model of the 1904 crossing tower and spire today. Photography by Geoff Watkins, Aerial Imaging South East
Two new bells were added, and the tower, clock and spire restored, all at the expense of Thomas Hellyar Foord, a local benefactor. Of the eight bells, four were recast, partly with the old metal, by Mears & Stainbank of Whitechapel, a foundry dating back to 1570. Two of the old peal were retained as tenor and sixth and the two new made treble and second.
In 1921 the Dean and Chapter commissioned Gillett and Johnston of Croydon to recast the existing eight bells and to add two more, applying new methods of tuning, bringing the number to ten, as it stands today.
3D model of bell no. 3, dedicated to Dean Hole and USS Pittsburgh in 1920.
Details of the Cathedral Bells
It is customary to give the weight of bells in hundredweight (cwt) - quarters (qr) - pounds (Ibs), thus a bell weight given as 9-2-0 is 9 cwt - 2 gr - 0 lbs. 1 cwt is approximately 50kg
Bell No. 1, treble, note F#
Cast 1921 by Gillett & Johnston, Croydon. Inscription 'To the Glory of God and in proud memory of our dear son 2nd Lieutenant George White Willis RAF who was killed in France on 4th January 1919'. Diameter 70.5cm. Weight 296kg. In 1904 four of six existing old bells were recast by Mears and Stainbank and were given by Thomas Hellyar Foord. These eight bells were all recast in 1921 and two added to bring the total to ten, all by Gillett and Johnston. Bells 1 and 2 are wholly new bells. The bells are hung on a steel frame by John Taylor and Co, Loughborough 1960.
Bell No. 2, note E
Cast 1921 by Gillett & Johnston, Croydon. Inscription as for treble bell. Dia. 74 cm. Weight 328.2kg.
Bell No 3, note D
Recast 1921 by Gillett & Johnston, Croydon. Inscription 'In remembrance of S. Reynolds Hole, Dean, died 27 August 1904. T.H.F'. Dia 76 cm. Weight 329.9kg.
Bell No 4, note C#
Recast 1921 by Gillett & Johnston, Croydon. Inscription on one side 'T.H. Foord gave me 1904', on the other side 'Recast in memory of Frederick Wade Hobson d.25 May 1903 and of Eliza Keyworth Hobson his only daughter d.15 September 1914'. Dia 80cm. Weight 352.5 kg.
Bell No 5, note B
Recast 1921 by Gillett & Johnston, Croydon. Inscription on one side 'In remembrance of W.W.F. died 10th September 1881'. On the other side 'Recast as a gift from the Cathedral Ringers'. W.W.F. was T.H. Foord's youngest brother. Dia 85 cm. Weight 379kg.
Bell No 6, note A
Recast 1921 by Gillett & Johnston, Croydon. Inscription on one side 'In remembrance of M.F., died 1st July 1896. T.H.F'. On the other side 'Recast in memory of Harold Albert Brand and Charles Walter Edward, Cathedral choristers, who fell in the Great War 1914-1918'. Dia 92 cm. Weight 481.7kg.
Bell No 7, note G
Recast 1921 by Gillett & Johnston, Croydon. Inscription on one side 'In remembrance of E.S.W. died 6 September 1896. T.H.F'. on the other side 'Recast in memory of Bertram Luard-Selby, Cathedral Organist and Choirmaster. Died St Stephen's Day 1918. Laudo Deum Verum, Plebem voco, congrego Clerum'. Dia 102 cm. Weight 586.2kg.
Bell No 8, note F#
Recast 1921 by Gillett & Johnston, Croydon. Inscription 'Vidua et socii me refecerunt. In Memoriam Ernaldi Lane DD. Hujusce Aedis Decani. Obit 16 January 1913. Adeste Fideles'. Dia 110cm. Weight 767.1kg.
Bell No 9, note E
Recast 1921 by Gillett & Johnston, Croydon. Inscription on one side 'Olim Thalebot nunc Talbot vocor. In die S. Andrae MCLIV. T.H.F. restauravit'. On the other side 'Recast in memory of Samuel Cheetham, DD, Archdeacon and Canon of Rochester Died 19 July 1908'. Diamater: 122 cm. Weight: 1023.3 kg.
Bell No 10, tenor, note D
Recast 1921 by Gillett & Johnston, Croydon. Inscription 'I was recast in memory of Francis Edmund Storrs, R.N.V.R., Son of the Dean, died 10 November 1918, eve of the Armistice. KATE'ПƠΘH ،O ΘA'NATOΣ EI'Σ NI'KOΣ. Diameter: 136.5 cm. Weight: 1531.9kg.
In 1960 the bells were rehung on a steel frame in the tower by John Taylor and Co. bellfounders of Loughborough. Since then very little major work has had to be carried out on the bells save for some refurbishment to six of the clappers in 1991.
Change ringing
Change Ringing is a system whereby the position that a bell sounds in a sequence can be changed. This is probably best illustrated by taking a ring of three bells. Only an adjacent pair can change position, but even by doing this, all the possible combinations of arranging three bells can be achieved:-
123, 213, 231, 321, 312, 132
To ring this sequence would take very little time at all. However, it is estimated that it would take in the order of 105 days to ring all of the 3,628,800 changes on 10 bells such as at Rochester.
It is not generally appreciated that change ringing is a post-Reformation practice which has developed in this island into a purely English tradition of bell ringing. The method of swinging a bell through just over 360 degrees by means of a rope round a wheel and holding it in position with a wooden stay originated around the time of Queen Elizabeth 1. Previously bells were merely swung by a lever or the clappers pulled against a stationary bell. It was found that swinging through a complete circle brought out the tone of the bell, from which came the idea of bells giving the notes of a scale and ringing them consecutively, finally developing into change ringing as it is today. This form of ringing has been taken into many parts of the world, wherever English people have settled.
Bells used for change ringing are tuned to a diatonic scale. There are diatonic rings of 14 bells in Winchester Cathedral and 16 bells in St. Martin's, Birmingham, Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin and the Swan Tower, Perth, Western Australia. There are also several rings of three or four bells where change ringing is practised. However, change ringing usually consists of 5,6,8,10 or 12 bells.
The ringers of Rochester Cathedral
Many major churches and cathedrals can trace a history of a band of ringers back many ears and have an established and thriving band. However, although there have been bells at Rochester Cathedral since at least the 16th century, it would be fairly safe to assume that there was no resident band until very recently. In fact no peals were rung at the Cathedral until 1905 when the first peal, 5024 Plain Bob Major, was rung to mark the Centenary of the Battle of Trafalgar. This would have been on the eight bells that were dedicated in 1904, augmented from the six bells that existed previously, and was rung by ringers from across the Medway area. The peal is commemorated on a peal board in the ringing chamber.
< 3D model of the plaque in the bellringing chamber commemorating A Peal of Bob Major on the centenary of the Battle of Trafalgar, 1905.
Rochester Cathedral Company of Bell Ringers was founded in 1904 as the Rochester Cathedral Society of Bell Ringers. Unfortunately very little is known of the band at this time. It is likely that it was made up mainly from the ringers of St. Margaret's, Rochester, All Saints, Frindsbury and St. Mary's Chatham (now the Victoria Tower). By the 1950s, when a regular practice was held on a monthly basis at the Cathedral, most of the ringers were from St. Mary's in Dock Road, Chatham.
The monthly practice continued until the late 1970s when a regular weekly practice commenced. By this time the Cathedral was beginning to establish a band in its own rights rather than based on ringers from other churches. St Margaret's and St. Mary's had both lost their bands by now, St. Margaret's bells having become unringable and St. Mary's Church having been closed.
Volunteer with the Rochester Cathedral Company of Bell Ringers:
Bell ringers
A voluntary role ringing the Cathedral bells on a regular basis for Sunday service and for weddings, memorial services and other special occasions.
The opportunity to repay, in part, our debt to these churches occurred recently when, after a silence of over thirty years the eight bells of St. Margaret's were finally restored at a cost of over £70,000 and the Cathedral Company of Bell Ringers was able, in conjunction with those from neighbouring towers, to assist in reforming and training the St. Margaret's Ringers. The bells were re-dedicated in a moving ceremony by the Archdeacon of Rochester, the Venerable Peter Lock, on Mothering Sunday, 26th March, 2006. Wider recognition of the work involved in the restoration of St. Margaret's bells came in the form of the City of Rochester Society's Conservation Award, which was presented by the Society's President, Robert Ratcliffe, after morning Service on Sunday, 25th March, 2007. Interestingly the peal is now rung from the ground floor of the 66 feet 15th century tower, enabling visitors and congregation to both hear and view the practice of change ringing.
Rochester Cathedral band has continued to thrive and, as part of the Rochester Cathedral Company of Bell Ringers centenary celebrations, a local band peal of Grandsire Triples was successfully rung, the first time that a full peal was rung at the Cathedral solely by Cathedral ringers. This and the full peal arranged to mark the 1400th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Cathedral are recorded on a peal board in the ringing chamber.
John K. Best-Shaw and Dagmar Batterbee
Rochester Bells published by The Friends of Rochester Cathedral
Reillustrated with additional notes by Jacob Scott, Heritage Officer
Ships bells
In addition to the bellfry bells, two ships bells from HMS Kent and Rochester are rung in advance of services.
Ship bell of HMS Rochester, 1932
The bell of HMS Rochester hangs in the North Quire Transept.
Acknowledgements
John K. Best-Shaw and Dagmar Batterbee for their original "The Bells of Rochester Cathedral'. Dickon Love for the information that he has unearthed about the Cathedral Bells. Neil Jones, Tower Captain & Ringing Master, Rochester Cathedral Company of Bell Ringers for information and photographs. Alan Moss for information on St. Margaret's Church Bells.
References
Stahlschmidt, JCL The Church Bells of Kent, (London, 1887)
Love, DR at kent.loversguide.com
Smith, FE, History of Rochester (1928)
Friends of Rochester Cathedral
The Friends of Rochester Cathedral were founded to help finance the maintenance of the fabric and grounds. The Friends’ publications and annual reports have become a wealth of knowledge on the fabric and history of the cathedral.