Church Bells in Trust
David J Kelly outlines the development of church bells throught the ages and the work of the Keltek Trust
|
|
|
Swan Bells, Perth. Western Australia, raised for ringing. The largest 12 of this ring of
18 bells date from 1725 and
were transferred to Perth from St Martin in the Fields,
London. (Photo: Swan Bells Foundation) |
|
|
|
In the early 1990s it became apparent that if some urgent action were not taken the
three bells at St Peter’s,
Barnburgh, Yorkshire would soon become unringable. The
old oak frame was frail and unstable and the fixtures
and fittings were fast wearing
out, making ringing difficult and dangerous. The investment needed to put things
right was enormous. In 1993 a new steel frame to accommodate five bells was
installed, the bells completely
refurbished and re-hung. The opportunity to augment
the minor ring of three arose in 1996 when the Millennium
Commission granted £3
million for the upgrading and improvement of church bells throughout the UK to
celebrate
the millennium. With the help of the Keltek Trust, two second-hand bells,
a treble and a tenor bell, were added to
create a ring of five in the major key and the
ring of five bells was dedicated on 16 July 2000. |
Since 1950, over 250 churches with four
bells or more have either been silenced
by the removal of their bells, or their bells
have been rehung for chiming. In the century
and a half prior to 1950 this happened in fewer
than 150 churches, including over 25 losses
through enemy action during the Second
World War. These figures exclude losses of bells
from churches that do not possess traditional
full-circle ringing bells and it is probable that
hundreds of bells have been removed and
scrapped, leading to a significant loss of our
heritage.
HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT
The earliest bells in England date from the
11th century and their tall long-waisted
shape is quite different to most bells cast
from the 14th century onwards. A bell’s
note was relatively unimportant providing
it was different to others hung in the tower.
However, this began to change when bells
were rung together as the art of full-circle
ringing developed in the 16th century. Full
circle ringing gave a bell ringer much greater
control over a swinging bell, and was enabled
by attaching the bell rope to a wheel at the end
of the bell frame, rather than to a simple lever
at the top of the frame. It created a demand
for musical rings of bells and as the art of
‘change-ringing’ developed in the 16th century
(where sets of bells or ‘rings’ are rung in
systematically changing patterns [1]), so too did
the skills of the bell-founder in casting and
tuning bells to a musical scale.
As full-circle bell-ringing increased in
popularity, the number of bells in a tower also
increased. Existing bells were either recast
or modified to create a new ring, or bells
were added to augment the ring. It was also
common for existing bells to be re-tuned to
make the ring more musical. At the same time
bell-frames were strengthened or replaced
to cope with the much larger dynamic forces
created by bells being rung full-circle instead of
swung through a small arc.
Early bell-founders and tuners were aware
that the size, shape, thickness and metal
composition had an effect on the sound, and
they experimented with changes to the bell
profile; a process that continues to this day.
Initially bells were tuned with a hammer and chisel by removing small pieces of metal from
inside the bell at or near the mouth to lower
the pitch, and cutting away at the lip to raise
the pitch.
Most bell founders realised that a lack of
uniformity of a bell’s shape had a considerable
effect on the sound quality and they were
careful that the inner and outer moulds were
precisely positioned to give a uniform thickness
around the bell’s circumference. Castings with
a non-uniform thickness sound very poor and
they were generally the mark of a poor founder.
However, most early bell-founders were
mystified why many good castings sounded
discordant and what was needed to produce
more tuneful bells.
During the Victorian period, some bellfounders
and amateurs conducted research
to improve the tonal qualities of bell castings.
Results of the research were considered
commercially sensitive and little was published
at the time. John Llewellin junior of the bellfounding
firm Llewellin & James of Bristol wrote
in 1879: The rapid advances now being made
promise very soon to render it as easy for the
musician to analyse any tone, however complex
as it is for the chemist to resolve a compound
into its component simple elements. It was
over a decade later when the most significant
breakthrough was made, but it was not by
Llewellin & James but by one of its competitors.
When a bell is struck the whole body
of the bell vibrates imparting energy into
the surrounding air. The sound produced is
complex and consists of a large number of
individual frequencies known as partials.
The dominant partials are those of the
lowest frequencies and they are known as the Hum, Prime (also confusingly known as
the Fundamental), Tierce, Quint, Nominal,
Superquint and the Octave Nominal.
|
|
The Keltek Trust acquired a bell from St Augustine’s Centre, Southampton during 1999 and put it in storage until
a suitable project was found. Many months later the trust received an enquiry for a sixth bell to augment the
fine-sounding ring of five bells at Dowlish Wake, Somerset. Two years after its acquisition the trust was repaid
and the bell was installed giving an equally fine sounding ring of six. |
|
During the middle of the 19th century it
had been assumed by some bell-founders that
tonal quality problems could be overcome by
increasing the thickness of various parts of the
bell to reduce individual partial intensities.
Many thick-scale bells were produced in this
period and while they did reduce the intensity
of some inharmonious partials they did not
produce a musical sound.
The most significant advance came in
the 1890s when one bell-founder changed
the shape of a bell to reduce the intensities
of the inharmonious partials and to fix the
relationship of the Hum partial as an octave
lower than the Prime, the Nominal an octave
above the Prime and the Tierce as a minor
third. Bells with this relationship are known
as True Harmonic tuned. There had been an
assumption that there were no True Harmonic
tuned bells cast prior to the 1890s, but some
surviving medieval and later castings do have
partials close to the ideal for True Harmonic
tuning. It is a subject of conjecture whether
these bells were lucky accidents or their
founders knew more about bell-shapes than their immediate successors. What is certain
is that a good sounding ancient bell was more
likely to survive than a poor sounding one.
Another significant advance towards the
end of the 19th century was the introduction
of large vertical boring machines or lathes that
allowed precise tuning and enabled the tuner
to cut metal away from any part of the inside
of a bell. Prior to their introduction the tuner
generally limited his efforts to chipping away at
the soundbow and lip.
During the latter part of the 20th century,
academic research into how bells make their
sound and how bells respond to tuning has
been published. These research papers [2] are
freely available and have been of assistance to
the modern bell-tuner. Prior to publication the
secrets of the trade had been passed from the
master bell-tuner to his apprentice.
Advances in technology over the past few
decades have assisted the modern bell-tuner.
Until a few years ago it was commonplace for
a set of tuning forks to be used to establish a
bell’s partials. Nowadays many tuners make
use of either specialised electronic equipment
or a computer running an application program
showing the partial frequencies and relative
amplitudes. These modern tools give an
immediate visual indication of how the partials
are responding to the tuning process.
Until a few years ago, accurate sound
recording could only be guaranteed using very
expensive recording equipment. Technological
advances now allow accurate digital recordings
to be made of bells prior to and after tuning
using readily available commercial equipment,
and sound clips can be archived for future
research. Many bell-historians are already
making use of PC-based applications to
document the primary partials and some
of this information is available online in
the prototype National Bells Register [3].
Without doubt the last ten years has seen
significant advances for bell archaeology and
proponents of conservation and preservation
are advised to make use of these advances. It is
now relatively easy for digital photographs and
digital sound clips to be taken and archived.
Consequently, the arguments for not retuning
ancient and not-so-ancient bells are greatly
reduced and it is hoped that in future belltuners
will be given more latitude to improve
the tonal balance of old bells.
Providing there is sufficient thickness, the
partials may be slightly changed in frequency
by removing metal from the bell, and tuning
different parts of the bell changes some partials
more than others. The bell tuner’s skill lies in
knowing which part of the bell to tune to achieve
the desired result. The bell’s shape and thickness
are the main limiting factors and these restrict
what can be achieved. However, significant
improvements can be made in many cases.
THE WORK OF THE KELTEK TRUST
|
|
|
The difficult to handle ring of six at Hilmarton, Wiltshire has been re-hung in a new frame and the poorsounding
second bell has been replaced by a bell from the redundant church of Little Carlton, Lincolnshire. |
The Keltek Trust was established in 1997 to
relocate redundant and second-hand bells. Its
policy is conservation by re-use; redundant
bells should be transferred to churches where
they will be used instead of languishing unused
in a deconsecrated church or worse still
removed and sold for scrap.
Transferring bells is not something new;
it is a practice that has happened for many
centuries. Usually the transfer was within
the same diocese and so the number of bells
transferred per year has been relatively low.
The main reason for this is that bells from
redundant churches usually need to be
removed at short notice and there is rarely
sufficient time to find an alternative home.
Even if an alternative destination is found, it
is unlikely that the church authorities could
gain faculty approval and raise sufficient funds
in time.
The trust has overcome this problem by
establishing a Bell Rescue Fund whereby bells
are purchased and put into storage until a
suitable destination is found. On average there
is a delay of several years between acquisition
and installation elsewhere for rings of bells and
between six and 18 months for single bells.
Lists of surplus bells are published on the
trust’s website and printed lists circulated to
members of the trade, diocesan bell advisers
and other interested parties. The trust keeps
records of requirements and attempts to
match surplus or redundant bell details with
enquiries and this has resulted in the transfer
or proposed transfer of over 350 bells.
Not all bells come from redundant
churches. Many come from churches
undertaking a bell-restoration scheme. Some
bells may be surplus to requirements, for
example the re-modelling of a peal of bells into
a lighter ring or a bell may be out of tune with
the remaining bells. It was common practice
for surplus bells to be broken-up and the
metal re-used in the casting of replacements.
Nowadays many bells are recycled and used
elsewhere.
While many relocated bells are installed
without any tuning, some require sympathetic
tuning to produce an acceptable sound or
to slightly change the note of the bell. Most
bells can be satisfactorily tuned and their
tonal qualities improved but some cannot. In
such cases they are installed as single bells for
chiming or put on display.
The majority of bells for relocation
date from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
Occasionally the trust relocates medieval
bells; one such case was two surplus bells
from Bishopstoke, Hampshire which were
used to augment the ancient ring of four bells
at Immingham which had an average age of
nearly 500 years old. Although by current
standards the bells are not well in tune, the
overall effect was of an interesting and not
unpleasant sounding ancient ring of bells.
The trust has helped to re-locate
second-hand bells into numerous churches
and in over 100 churches the bells will be
or have been hung for traditional full-circle
ringing. The illustrations give an indication of
typical projects.
Notes
1 Further information on change-ringing can
be found on the Central Council of Church
Bell Ringers’ website HERE
2 See www.hibberts.co.uk
3 See dove.cccbr.org.uk/updatesBR.php
|