“Ye rascally ringers, inveterate foes,
Disturbers of those who are fond of repose,
I wish for the peace and quiet of these lands
That ye had round your necks what ye pull in your hands!”
With thanks to the publisher, Christopher Groome, for permission to reproduce the rhyme.
These lines were written a couple of centuries ago by a parish clerk at St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, after many years of bombarded sleep, showing that not all country folk and churchmen are lovers of bells!
It’s from a lovely book, Inspired By Bells, which brings together all aspects of bells and bellringing, churches, and local lore, illustrated with photographs and drawings.
Most of the articles and rhymes are more sympathetic to the subject than the above snippet, and excerpts from Betjeman, Shakespeare, Dickens, Bunyan, Tennyson, Victor Hugo, and Dorothy L Sayers, to name but a few, guarantee some good writing about this uniquely English tradition.
The Lutherans and Calvinists regarded bellringing as sinful, but – paradoxically – the Reformation gave a huge boost to the craft and art of change-ringing, as bells taken out of the dissolved monasteries were hung in village churches to augment those already calling the faithful to worship.
John Fry; Sherborne.
