The ancient chime of four bells at St Botolph's Church, Cambridge, featuring Mr Mouldy

1. c1470 John Danyell
2 c1486 John Danyell's successor 'Brede'
3 c1486 John Danyell's successor 'Brede'
4 c1486 John Danyell's successorr 'Brede'

The tenor is 8 1/2 cwt (430kg) and is in A


On a ringing tour in Cambridge, we decided to visit this tower. We knew the bells were unringable full circle, but discovered to our pleasure that the bells had been equpped with an Ellacombe chiming apparatus in 1970, and the lovely ladies let us have a chime. Here is Mr Mouldy showing us his stuff. They are rather nice bells for being so old! a shame theyre no longer rung full circle, but it's good that they are still heard across the beautiful historic city of Cambridge.

http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=cambridge&numPerPage=10&...

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• cambridge
• campane
• campanari
• ellacombe
• chiesa
• chime
• clock
• bells
• bellringing
• bellringers
• belltower
• belfry
• chapel
• church
• england
• turret
• steeple
• glocken
• klokke
• klokk
• kerklokken
• churchbells

[danielscott17]

why are these bells unringable

[irkibby]

@danielscott17

I am unsure. The frame is probably very old and not strong enough to support full circle ringing.

[simonbellringer]

Very lovely sound; are they original, or were they retuned?

[irkibby]

@simonbellringer I very much doubt they were retuned in 1970. Other than that, KI do not know

[MrUNIXman]

These Bells sounds very similar to Ellington Bells which is a full circle ring of 4 too and they got the similar chiming system too.

[MrUNIXman]

I thought these ropes did not work when attempting to pull them good to hear them.Very nice ring anyway. I know you get people wondering in there and pulling them.

[timmeh1507]

"I'm not gonna lie Stace!"

[pal05pmajor3]

these sound very nice, really enjoyed

[combineharvestersam]

I had a (naughty) chime on these when I was visiting Cambridge about 10 years ago. They do sound good.

[sooth15]

Wow, those do sound pretty amazing considering they're 524+ years old!