September 2013

Getting ready for our annual Bellringers Outing this weekend it occurred to me that I never finished telling you about the rings of bells abroad.   

The Commonwealth countries have the most number of ringable peals of bells after England and the UK.  This month we’ll take a quick look at Australasia which has 64 peals of bells – 55 in Australia and 9 in New Zealand.  By far the most Australian peals are in New South Wales with Sydney alone (both city and metro) having 13 with another 13 in the country.  Interestingly there are no bells in the north of Australia and only 3 in Queensland.  

The most interesting Australian tower is The Bell Tower, Perth; Home of the Swan bells. This bell tower not only looks like a Swan (see pictures below) but is located overlooking the Swan river. In total there are 18 bells, the most ring of bells in the world.  There is also a separate 26-bells carillon.

 

                                               

Commemorating Australia's bicentenary in 1988, the twelve bells of St Martin-in-the-Fields as well as five specially cast bells were presented to the University of Western Australia, the City of Perth and to the people of Western Australia. The London diocese of the Church of England and the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields gave authority for the project to proceed. The additional bells cast in 1988 include two from the cities of London and Westminster, who each gifted one bell to the project, and a total of three bells bestowed by a consortium of British and Australian mining companies. Completing the ring of eighteen bells, a sixth new bell was commissioned by the Western Australian Government to mark the second millennium.  The bells from St Martin-in-the-field are recorded as being in existence from before the 14^th century and recast in the 16^th century by Queen Elizabeth 1.  The bells were again recast between 1725 and 1770 under the order of the Prince of Wales who was later crowned as King George II. They are one of the few sets of royal bells and are the only ones known to have left England.

Just quickly nipping over to New Zealand; this has 9 peals of bells – 5 in the North Island and 2 in the South Island – of which 3 are unringable.  The South Island did have 3 rings but during the catastrophic earthquake of 2011 Christchurch Cathedral collapsed taking the tower and its bells with it.  Remarkably these 13 bells were recovered with all but one apparently intact.  They are now in the UK being repaired.  When they return to Christchurch Cathedral - if and when it is rebuilt of something other than cardboard - remains to be seen.

Finally I have to end on a slightly sad note. Attending our practice on Wednesday 28^th August I parked, as usual, in the Churchyard up near the steps. It seems that while I was ringing – or while I was in The Black Swan afterwards – someone parked above me (even nearer the steps) and, either on driving into the space or back out of it, they bumped into the side of my car.  What actually makes me sad is that no note was left on my windscreen, not even an anonymous one!  This person must have known they hit my car and to them I would just like to say that what they thought was a “little bump” is costing me £350 to repair.