The bell tower

Who is up in the tower, and what are they doing?

High above the West End is a community most of us never see. The bell ringers gather to ring the Minster’s peal of ten bells — hung in the north-west tower — for Sunday services, weddings, civic occasions and the great feasts of the year. Their tradition stretches back centuries, has its own beautiful and complicated language (with terms like changes, plain hunt, methods, peals and quarter peals), and their work is some of the most distinctive sound that a passer-by in Beverley hears across a Sunday morning.

What is the history of our bells?

Longer than almost anything else still in daily use here. Records show the Minster possessed two bells in 1050 — before the Norman Conquest. Four bells were installed in 1366, and three of them, since recast, are still rung today. The restoration of the Minster under Thomas Mease brought a great bell to the south-west tower in 1703 and a treble in 1747. Canon Nolloth, the long-serving Victorian-era Vicar, oversaw two major overhauls — in 1896 and 1901, by Taylor of Loughborough — which raised the ringing peal in the north-west tower from eight bells to ten.

Great John, the great bell of the south-west tower, dates from 1901: over seven tons in weight and more than seven feet across. He strikes the hours; the quarters are chimed on all ten ringing bells, to a melody composed by John Camidge, then the Minster’s organist. And a detail to delight in: Great John’s Latin inscription dedicates him not to our own saint but to his namesake — “I am called the great bell of Saint John the Evangelist, 1901.”

The ringing tradition is very much alive. In March 2022 a newly composed peal of five thousand changes — the St John of Beverley Surprise Royal — was rung for the first time, marking thirteen hundred years since Saint John’s death in 721.

Is bell ringing difficult?

Bell ringing is genuinely a craft. The ringers learn to control the bell with timing and weight rather than force; the patterns they ring (called methods or changes) are mathematical sequences that take years to master. Visitors to a tower practice are often surprised by how quietly and steadily the room hums, and how seriously the ringers take their work.

How do I join the ringers?

The Minster bell ringers are always glad to welcome new ringers, and the Tower Captain — Mike Robson — is unfailingly patient with beginners. The ringers practise every Tuesday evening. You do not need to be musical (though it helps to count). There is a steady period of training, and you will be ringing simple changes within a few months. Please ask at the Parish Centre and Lauren will put you in touch with Mike directly.

Bell ringers, like the rest of us, are part of the community below as well as the community above the Nave. Several ring at services and then come down to attend them. Several do not. Both are honoured.

Section 15 of 26 in the Companion