The art and science of bell ringing, readers, has it’s own vocabulary , nomenclature and customs, for example the weights of church bells are still recorded using old fashioned hundredweights, quarters and pounds. Here at Gedney our tenor bell, cast in 1794 at Downham Market weighs 13 cwts, 3 qtrs and 19 pounds, which in boxing terminology is a mere welterweight. So what about the heavyweights? Where do we find them?
Well most of them are in the great cathedrals, Exeter Cathedral where the tenor “Grandison” weighs 72 cwts, St Pauls London, tenor 62 cwts, Wells Cathedral tenor 56cwts and Worcester Cathedral tenor 48 cwts, but “the daddy of them all” is “Emmanuel” the 82 cwt tenor at Liverpool Cathedral, cast in 1939 at Whitechapel and the heaviest full circle change ringing bell in the world. Over the years I have had the opportunity and pleasure to ring at all of these cathedrals, the most modern being that at Liverpool. Designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, it has a central tower of enormous proportions with a lift to take ringers to the ringing room, which is perhaps as well, the tower being some 331 feet tall. Its twelve bells are arguably the finest ring ever cast but unfortunately are ruined by appallingly bad acoustics in the ringing room. The problem is caused by the reinforced concrete bell frame, which while superbly rigid, is also a superb absorber of sound. I have always prided myself on being able to hear the sound of the bell I am ringing, but at Liverpool I found myself ringing almost totally by ropesight. Oh yes, there is some sound but very indistinct, remote and difficult to describe. The remaining “heavyweight” I have unfortunately not visited is York Minster whose ring of twelve bells has a tenor tipping the scales at 59 cwts, all products of the Loughborough Foundry.
Some enthusiastic ringers endeavour to ring at as many towers as possible-I have myself visited a few hundred, but in England alone there are more than 5700 of them and with augmentations and additions constantly occurring I doubt that even the most active “tower grabber” will ever be able to boast as per that Johnny Cash song, “I’ve been (rung) everywhere man.”etc etc. John Bennett