Pebworth Bells

St Peter's Pebworth

Welcome to the Pebworth Bells Home Page . This website is dedicate to the activities of the bellringing team at St. Peter’s Pebworth… a small church, in a small village, not far from small town called Stratford-upon-Avon!

We have 10 bells, with the largest weighing in at just over 600kg (11cwt)… which makes it a relatively light weight ring of bells… especially for a 10 bell tower.

Bell Ringing is a great pastime and ringers are sociable people. With thousands of towers across the UK… and many more in Anglican communities around the world, it is a great way to meet new friends… so do read on, you might just want to come and be sociable too!

Visitors are always welcome at Pebworth. As a rural parish in a sprawling benefice, our church services are somewhat irregular, so do check our calendar before calling on a Sunday… However, we meet at 19.30 every Friday evening to practice… and usually move on to the village pub for drinks at 21.00 when we finish… so do come and visit us. Whether you are a ringer or not… we will always try to make you welcome.

Original Image from Fortran Friends

Full Circle Ringing

When we ring a bell, we swing it through a complete circle.

It starts from a position where the bell is balanced with its mouth pointing upwards. A mechanism allows it to rest in that position.

When we pull the rope, the bell will go over the balance point and topple downwards about 2 meters in a circular motion, until it swings back up to the balance point, having gone through just over 360°.

By that time, all the rope will have gone up above head height and it is now ready to be pulled again and return another 360° back to its starting point.

The rope is attached to a wheel mounted on the bells pivot point. It allows the ringer to control the bell at both balance points.

Effectively managing several hundred kgs of bell metal which is free-falling using only a rope, is a skilled job and bells can be very dangerous in the hands of someone who doesn’t know what they are doing…. Merry Monks bobbing up and down on ropes are fine for Christmas cards, but the reality would more likely be severe rope burns… if you were lucky! However, if you learn to ring, you will learn to tame the beasts and once you know what you are doing, the bells are docile, easy to control and become the most amazing team operated musical instruments!

Learning to Ring

Like driving a car, it takes little while to get your co-ordination and to hone your physical, visual and auditory skills… but it is not too difficult, does not require any great strength and anyone over the age of 10 should be able to master the skill.

Also like driving a car, it can be dangerous if you do not know what you are doing, so do come and have lessons before you try to take control of 600kg of high speed bell metal!

Why not drop us a line and arrange a trial lesson…?

Bell Handling

When you learn to ring, we will start you off by learning how and when to pull the rope and even more importantly… when to let go! Your instructor will stand with you, gradually allowing you to take more and more control… until you feel safe and comfortable and you get to ring solo. And like any good instructor… even then they will remain with you, ready to step back in and help should you need it.

Our Bells

Our bells vary in age from 20 to 315 years old and weight between 3.5cwt (187kg) and 11.9cwt (601kg)…

Ringing Resources

In this area, you will find notes about the things we need know, help with learning ‘bell methods’ and games to help improve our ringing. Over time, it will hopefully build into a useful library of crib sheets, notes and activities.

Method Ringing Resources

Learning methods is never simple, particularly at the beginning… Pebworth Bells notes will help you learn a new line or method… pointing out the tips and tricks to quickly understand how the method works.

Listening Games

We all struggle with striking at times and struggle to hear our bell… The Pebworth Bells listening exercises will help to train your ears, learn to hear the bells more clearly and improve your striking.

How Bells Work

Information about how we ring and what sits above the ceiling in the bell chamber.

Change Ringing Basics

From the jargon related to the mechanics of the tower or the construction of methods, to understanding more about the science of our art. These notes will help you improve your knowledge of our art.

Handbells

It is possible to ring both methods and tunes on handbells. At Pebworth Bells, we have just set up a new handbell group learning to ring tunes.
If you would like to join the team and learn too, this is an excellent time to get involved. It is very easy and we ring from tablature, using numbers in a grid, so no previous musical skill or knowledge is required!