It seems that church bells have been rung at Cuxton since at
least the fourteenth century. In 1866, when a peal of five new bells was placed
in the tower, three older, cracked bells were removed. The treble bore the
inscription:
+CRISTUS PERPETUE DET NOBIS GAUDIA VITE+
...which means ‘may
Christ give us the blessing of eternal life’. On the crown of the bell,
repeated three times, was a shield bearing three heraldic laver-pots
(ewers) which dated it as later fourteenth century. The bell was believed to be
the work of William Wodeward, a Kentish bell-founder who lived from 1395 to
1420.
The other old bell was apparently cast by Giles Reve, an
Elizabethan bell-founder who worked from 1584 to 1592. The Cuxton bell was
unusual for having the surname of the bell-founder omitted, the inscription
reading:
BY WE GYLLES
BELLFOANDER 1589
Giles Reve appears to have been a local man as his work is
only found in the northern part of mid-Kent. In the Middle Ages, it was common
practice for bell-founders to travel from church to church with their tools and
materials, and for them to cast the bells in sand mould made in the churchyard.
The third bell was believed to be of 15th or early 16th century manufacture and bore the Latin inscription:
+HAEC CAMPANA CANORA MAGDALENAE NOMEN GERIT+
("This tuneful bell bears the name of Magdalen").
These older bells were probably "chimed" when rung, that is, they were just rocked back and forth, which is the way church bells are usually rung throughout the world, with the exception of the UK (and its former colonies). In England in the seventeenth century, the style of "full circle" ringing was developed. The bells were spun until they almost reached their balance point at the top of their cycle, with the mouth of the bell pointing upwards. It was found that this gave much greater control over exactly when the bell sounded, allowing the subsequent development of "change ringing", a practice that produces the ever-changing peals that are so characteristic of well-rung English bell-towers.
Traditionally, St. Michaels
has always had a highly-competent team of ringers. While the ringers at many church
bell-towers are content to ring simple rounds or “call changes”, the Cuxton teams have
tended to be a bit more ambitious, being proponents of the complex art of “method
ringing”
At the turn of the twentieth century, John Cogger was Tower
Captain. He served in that role until 1919, when Charles Cogger took over until
WW2. Ringing was temporarily stopped by order of parliament as a result of the
war, but the bells were kept in good order during that period as they would
have used as a means of warning in the event of invasion.
After the war, Jim Cogger took over as Tower Captain in
1945, at the head of a strong team of ringers composed of the old pre-war hands
plus some younger enthusiasts.
The Rev. G. Taylor did not care for bells, causing a
temporary break during 1951-1955, until a new team was formed after the Rev.
Charles Rae’s institution.
 |
| Cuxton bell-ringers, 1956: L to R; Lorna Russell, Jim Cogger, Bernice Rogers, Harold Gregory, Peter Bond, Derek Church. |
In 1964, local historian, keen bell-ringer and professional
architect Derek Church discovered that the church tower was becoming dangerously
unstable and needed extensive remedial work. Fundraising commenced and an
informative pamphlet was produced, which outlined a brief history of the church
and gave details of the tower repair work to be undertaken.
 |
| Cover of the 1964 "Tower Appeal" pamphlet... |
As part of the repairs, the opportunity was taken to return
the existing five bells to their 1866 birthplace,
Mears and
Stainbank of the famous Whitechapel Bell Foundry, for repair and re-tuning.
(Alas, this historic foundry has long since
closed…).
 |
| Scope of the 1964 church remedial work, as outlined by Derek Church... |
At the same time, an additional new treble was cast by the Whitechapel Foundry, and mounted on a new steel frame above what became the No. 2 bell.
The repair work was completed by local building firm F. Hayward and Sons, and ringing recommenced with a complement of six bells rather than five, which allowed more comprehensive methods of change-ringing to be undertaken.
In 1964 after repairs were complete, yet another generation
of the Cogger family took on the role of Tower Captain, Colin Cogger. His work
eventually took him away from the area and others took up the mantle, but Colin
is still very much around and still rings occasionally.
Here are a few facts and figures about the bells of St.
Michaels:
|
Bell no:
|
Weight (lb/kg)
|
Bell diameter (inches)
|
Note
|
|
1 (the “treble”)
|
400 / 181
|
23
|
F♯
|
|
2
|
432 / 196
|
24.75
|
E
|
|
3
|
501 / 227
|
26.63
|
D
|
|
4
|
591 / 268
|
30.75
|
C♯
|
|
5
|
687 / 312
|
32.88
|
B
|
|
6 (the “tenor”)
|
833 / 378
|
35.5
|
A
|
 |
| Bells 1, 2 and 3 at St. Michaels: No. 1 in the frame over No.2 with No.3 on the right... |
 |
| Clockwise from left, bells 3, 4, 5 and 6 at St. Michaels... |
Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in
a tightly-controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive
striking sequences, known as "changes".
 |
| Stickmen ringing "rounds": see how the stay and slider mechanism would prevent the bell from turning more than about 350 degrees - not that a competent ringer would "over-pull" to that extent... |
Two forms of ringing changes have developed;
Call changes and
Method ringing. This would be a huge post if I were to go into the details of these: indeed, whole books have been written on the subtle and intricate art of change ringing, but a nice little summary can be found on good old Wikipedia (link
here).
Looking at the mechanics of bell-ringing shows how the
regular striking of a bell is dictated by the way it swings through almost (but
not quite) a full circle. (Again, I
don’t plan to go into the mechanics of church bells but if you are interested,
it’s all explained very concisely - and with nice animated diagrams - here…).
 |
| Bells 4, 5 and 6 at St. Michaels: the wheel of No.3 is on the right |
Church bells are very heavy and the time between strikes
cannot be changed by much, as no bell-ringer would have the strength to suddenly
put the brakes on a bell once it is swinging full circle. This obviously limits the practical change of interval
between successive strikes – it’s why you can’t play tunes on church bells!
As I noted above, bell-ringing at St. Michaels has a long history.
It was gratifying to see how warmly Cuxton’s residents
received the resumption of the traditional Wednesday evening bell-ringing
practice sessions after the lifting of remaining coronavirus restrictions at the end of February this year.
Practice
nights are usually well-attended, but unfortunately it is becoming increasingly difficult to support traditional Sunday service ringing, as many of the ringers have
commitments at other towers on a Sunday.
Several of Cuxton’s ringing team have recently had to retire from bell-ringing because of the frailties associated with old age. It is to be
hoped that a few more new faces will go along to practice evenings on a Wednesday in an
attempt to learn the difficult but rewarding art of church bell-ringing, and to carry on the
tradition at Cuxton.
It would be sad if the passage of time finally achieves what world
wars, tower repairs, the recent coronavirus lockdowns and even hostile vicars
could not – the permanent silencing of the bells of St. Michaels.
References:
1) Dove’s Guide for
Bell-Ringers, Cuxton entry
2)
Wikipedia:
Change Ringing
3)
Cuxton – A
Kentish Village, by Derek Church (published by Arthur J. Cassell, 1976,
ISBN 0 903253 12 7)
4)
How Bells
Work – Ilsingtonparish.co.uk
