Bells traditions |
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Click
on the play button to listen to some music
"Bells
across the meadow" by Ketelby |
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Does this ring a bell?
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Few
residents today recall the days when the church bells acted
as a kind of air borne news agency. The sound of different
combinations of bells floating over the town could tell you
about a fire, who had died and their age, when to go to bed
- even remind you when Pancake Tuesday had arrived.
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Battered!
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The
pancake bells (fourth and fifth) rang on Shrove Tuesday morning
to remind Coleshill housewives to use up all the left-over
flour, eggs and fat in the house - foods forbidden during
Lent.
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Blues
and twos
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The
treble and tenor (the bells at opposite ends of the ring)
were rung to warn of a fire.
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For whom the bell tolls
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Today,
a bell is rarely tolled for funerals. But tradition has it
that the bell would give the gender and age. A man would
have three strokes rung three times; a woman two strokes
three times; and a child three strokes only. The age was
indicated with one stroke for each year of life.
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Clocking off
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Before
clocks were common, everyone relied on church clocks for
telling the time. The day would begin and end with the curfew
bells - the fifth would ring the curfew at 8pm, and the tenor
the month. Curfew, from the Norman French for covering the
fire, minimised the risk of wood and thatch structures catching
fire.
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Star turn
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You
are not hearing things at Christmas if you heard Little Donkey
and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star coming from the tower: it
really is possible to play tunes on the bells. It's a good
test of bell control as well as fun and a chance for the
ringers to do something different, so listen out nearer Christmas.
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When
the children are getting you up early on Christmas Day, bell
ringers will be trudging through the dark to ring the bells
for the early morning service. And they will be there, too
on New Year's Eve to see out the old year and welcome in
the new. Listen out for us.
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