Other Types of Ringing

Handbells

Handbell ringing comes in two main forms:

• Change Ringing on Handbells
  Ringing Methods, normally with two bells per ringer – one bell in each hand.
  Many tower bell ringers also do change ringing on handbells.
  Some towers use handbells (sometimes toy bells) to aid training.

• Tune Ringing on Handbells
  Some tower bell ringers, and people who don’t ring tower bells, ring tunes on handbells, especially at Christmas when carols are rung at various festive events.
  Handbells can be rung as a serious musical instrument, and is particularly popular in North America.
  In GB there is the Handbell Ringers of Great Britain.

Chiming

There are 2 main types of chiming:

• Swing Chiming
  Swinging the bell slightly (not full circle) until the clapper strikes the bell. (Similar to the first stage of ringing up to ring full circle).
• Hung dead and struck with a Hammer
  The bell is hung so it does not swing and is struck by a hammer. Examples include:
  – Clock bells.
  – Some church bells, such as the 8 bells at St Thomas’s Brampton, Chesterfield and the tubular bells at Riddings.
  – Ellacombe apparatus can be used to chime bells hung dead, such as at Smalley. Ellacombs can also be used with or full circle bells that are down, and can be seen in many ringing chambers.
  – Carillons, such as the Loughborough Carillon. Visit Loughborough Carillon – another great day out close to Derbyshire.

Other Ringing Styles

Click here for different styles of Continental Ringing.

The video below is of EXTREME bell ringing in Seville. It gets rather scary at 2m30!
English-style ringing is much safer (and less noisy for the ringers), but is still massive fun.