Byfield Bells

The tower of Holy Cross church contains a ring a eight bells. Details of the bells are:

Treble weighs 190 kg and was cast in 1991 at London by Whitechapel

No. 2 217 kg and was cast in 1991 at London by Whitechapel

No. 3 229 kg and was cast in 1905 at Birmingham by Barwell

No. 4 260 kg and was cast in 1703 at Chacombe by Bagley

No. 5 263 kg and was cast in 1703 at Chacombe by Bagley

No. 6 323 kg and was cast in 1703 at Chacombe by Bagley

No. 7 431 kg and was cast in 1995 at London by Whitechapel

Tenor 630 kg and was cast in 1791 at Hertford by Briant

They were overhauled, retuned, augmented from six to eight bells and hung in a new two tier steel and iron frame in 1991. They hang at the level of the tower openings. The old seventh bell which was found to be cracked in 1991, was welded, but in 1994 it cracked suddenly in the sound bow and was recast the next year. The 20th century bells bear the names of their donors and the treble has a list of all Byfield ringers in 1991.

The fund raising and work was masterminded by Fred Hutt, the tower captain for many years until his death in 1999. Fred lived in the village all his life, except for war service in the army, and was well known in Bellringing circles throughout the country. He took a great interest in the history, traditions and customs of bellringing. Alison Buck (01327 260977) is now the tower captain.

WHAT HAPPENS?

The bells are rung from the ringing chamber some 42 steps up the tower spiral staircase. The clock mechanism, now electrically wound is in a room between ringers and bells. The clock strikes on the bells when they are hanging safely mouth downwards. When they are rung for changes, the bells are swung back and forth until they are stopped by a small wooden stay, mouth upwards. In this position they are dangerous unless rung by trained competent ringers. The ropes passing around a large wheel attached to the bell allow it to be rung to sound in one direction and then on the return swing at slightly different speeds so that the order of the bells can be moved to produce different changes.

FASCINATING

There are many fascinations in this very English art and science, that has spread to some English speaking countries, especially Australia and USA but nowhere else. The mechanics, maintenance, historical details, being part of a team, satisfaction when keeping to a good rhythm, friends and socialising. There is a great fraternity of bellringers. When you can ring, even if only in the initial stages, you are made welcome at any tower in the country - very useful and settling for those who travel a lot, or to new students staying away from home for the first time.

ASSOCIATIONS & GUILDS

There are associations of ringers to give mutual support and encouragement, usually based on counties or Church of England diocese. In our case, we are members of the Daventry Branch of the Peterborough Guild of Church Bellringers. They hold monthly Saturday afternoon practices attended by 20 to 40 ringers with tea and meetings, outings and social events.

PRACTICES

At Holy Cross, we practise every Friday from 8 pm to 9 pm, except during Holy week and occasionally when several ringers are going to be away.

Since the bells were restored, there have not been many active bell ringers in the village. On practice nights, ringers from Badby, Charwelton, and Newnham keep the bells ringing.

We would love to see all those lapsed bellringers who live in the village ringing in the tower!

We also need a lot of new recruits anyone from 12 years old upwards to get the bells ringing for Sunday services, as well as weddings and other special events.

Bellringing is not particularly strenuous - there is more skill than strength needed. You do not need to be musical but a good sense of rhythm helps. It is a great all-family past-time. It is a bit like riding a bike, it is very difficult to balance at first, but once you can, you cannot understand why it was so difficult, and you will never lose the skill. Once you can balance and ring the bell, you can practise ringing in an even beat with the other ringers and start the long, interesting, rewarding and never ending journey of learning different methods of changes. It gives you the opportunity to visit interesting churches throughout the country and perhaps to ring at Manchester Town Hall - the proud possessor of a ring of 12 bells, and other famous and unusual places. You can hear on Friday’s that we have not travelled very far along the journey yet ourselves!

START HERE!

Contact Alison Buck on 01327 260977 or alisonbuck@waitrose.com, James Grennan, Barry Thompson, or Tony Webster for more information. You are welcome to come along on a Friday evening at 8pm after which the church is usually locked. We can arrange free, safe training and instruction to get you started. All we ask is that you persevere and help ring for some services on Sundays when you are competent!

Visit www.cccbr.org.uk.