Bellringing

The Parish Church of St James St. James's Road, Hampton Hill, TW12 1DQ (Parish Office 020 8941 6003)

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Bellringing

Church bells are bells which are rung in a church either to signify the hour or the time for worshippers to go to church, perhaps to attend a wedding, funeral, or other service. The practice and hobby of bell-ringing is known as campanology. The origin of the word campanology is from the Latin word campana meaning bell and 'logia' meaning to study. Although a few people still believe that our bells can be switched on to ring automatically, this is not true! Only the chimes every quarter operate mechanically; all other ringing has to be done by real people.

At St. James's the bells are rung from 09.15 to 09.30 every Sunday before Parish or All-age Communion. There is a pattern to this which has been followed at St. James’s for at least twenty years; tunes for the first ten minutes, then a single bell for three minutes to call the congregation to church, and finally rapid ringing for the last two minutes (to indicate that you should hurry?). If you have never noticed this, listen next Sunday.

Most people marrying at St. James's request bells, which are rung as they leave the church after the ceremony. The bells are also rung at New Year; slow, mournful ringing as the old year dies followed by joyful tunes after midnight to welcome the new year. We are occasionally asked to ring on other occasions; for wedding anniversaries, special birthdays, or sometimes at funerals to celebrate the life of the deceased.

Ringing the Bells

St. James's bells are housed in the bell tower. There are six bells at St. James's, cast in 1893 and 1894. They are fixed so are not rung by swinging them on their axles. They are chimed manually by one ringer pulling sideways on ropes which hang vertically side by side. Four of the bells, which automatically chime the hours and the quarters, are also connected electrically to the clock. Read about the bells.

As our bells do not swing, they can all be rung by one ringer. There are currently ten ringers, with one or two being needed each time.

Although the bells are rung by only one person at a time, we usually have two ringers 'on duty' on each occasion. Each rings for a couple of minutes and then passes to the other, the changeover should not he noticeable to those listening!

Ringing is fun and new ringers are always welcome. Anyone from the age of about eleven can learn to ring. It takes several hours to learn, but once trained the commitment is only fifteen minutes about once a month with our current numbers. See contacts below. Four young people became sufficiently competent to help with the Sunday ringing of the bells in 2010 after attending Saturday practice sessions very regularly.

During our open days, visitors, including children, are encouraged to have a go at ringing the bells.

Further Information
	Contact Susan Horner on 020 8979 9380
	Latest Bellringing APCM Report
	Associated pages on this website: Bell Tower

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