The bells of St Peters listen to the Goldhanger bells...
Rounds on 5 bells:	.
Call changes on 6 bells:	.
Plain Bob Doubles on 6 bells:	.
Half muffled bells 6 bells:	.
A complex method on 8 bells:	.
The Ellacombe Chimes:	.

Contents o History of the bells o The Ellacombe Chimes o A Study of the Tower history

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	History of the bells								open view of tower Select to enlarge & zoom
1400 s	The tower was added at the west end of the existing nave, probably initially as a watch tower containing one bell. There is more about the... history of the tower
1549	At the time of Henry VIII’s reformation an inventory of "Church Goods" was made. The following was included... iiij greate bells hanginge in the stepyll with lettell sauncfcus bell
1657	It was recorded that the Church tower contained 4 bells, two still have the date of 1657 inscribed on them: MILES GRAYE MADE ME 1657 Miles Graye was a bell foundry in Colchester
	Little else is known about the Goldhanger bells in this period, but records from other towers, particularly in Essex, tell us how they were arranged and used in this period...
			The four bells would have been swung with simple levers without any wheels and been rung by one person such as the Church Sexton who could ring two or three bells at the same time. In these early days the bells had many other uses in addition announcing church services, festivals and royal occasions, and the bells provided a vital role of alerting residents to the important events of the day.
	Work bell - the start and end of the working day taking account of daylight Seeding bell - start of the optimum time in the spring to sow seeds in the fields Pancake bell - the start of Lent Harvest bell - the start of bringing in the annual crop Gleaning bell - when the harvest finished families were allowed to glean for free Oven bell - the Lord of the Manor’s oven was hot and ready for use School bell - before the school has its own a bell a bell in the tower was used Market bell - declared the start of a market day in The Square Curfew bell - it was law to dampen down open flames at night for fire protection Fire bell - village fire alarm, all able-bodied men turned out to fight the fire Attack bell - an enemy in the vicinity, probably seen from the tower roof Passing bell - a very sick person was about to, or had just died Death Knell - formal declaration of a death, either a local or national figure Lynch bell - slow tolling of the Tenor bell before and during a funeral
1700s		A further improvement was mounting the bell to a quarter wheel As this method grew popular, bells then began to be mounted on half wheels allowing them to be swung more vigorously.
	Finally in this period, bells in the UK were progressively being mounted inside full wheels, enabling the different sizes and tones of bells to be rung at the same speed and sychronised to produce the classic English sounding “Full Circle Ringing” and associated complex “methods”.
1781	Two of the bells in the tower are engraved with the date of 1781
1899	The date recorded when the bells upgraded to a peal of 6
1904	The Ellacombe Chimes frame has a manufacturer's plate with a date of 1904...
1909					enlarge
1910	A plaque in the bell tower of this date commemorates the first peal on six bells by the local ringers. They were each given a silver medallion by the Rector.
1914 -1918	The bells were tolled many times during the Great War to mark the loss of young men from the village, including the loss of several bellringers. See. the . . Great-War
1919	The Parish magazine reported . . . The Church bells rang joyous peals for the return of thirty of our soldiers
1920	The tenor bell was tolled during the dedication of the war memorial marking the loss of seventeen young men from the village.
1951	A new steel frame was installed to replace the old oak frame and the bells were upgraded to a peal of eight. One of the bells came from the redundant Church of St Giles in Colchester. The funds needed to complete the work were collected over a period of five years, with regular house to house collections using a 'payment card'. The amount collected was entered onto the card so that a record of contributions was maintained. The project was organised by Tower Captain Bernard Mann and Rector Bill Randall.
1951							enlarge
1951	The 8cwt tenor bell was re-cast in this year and is inscribed and dedicated to the Revd Frederick Gardner who was Rector from 1893 -1936. The Tenor bell being lifted:
	The bell frame since 1951 Select to enlarge & zoom in			the inscribed Tenor bell
1971	The Arthur Appleton Trophy is regularly awarded by the local branch of Essex Bellringing Association to the winning tower of the annual Striking Competition. It would have been made at some time after his death in 1971. Arthur was an accomplished Goldhanger ringer, well known in the district and an honorary member of the Essex Bellringing Association. The plaque in our tower dated 1910 has Arthur's name on it as one of the six rings who completed a peal of 5040 changes A medallion presented to Arthur by the Revd. Gardner is embedded within the trophy. The trophy is still presented today to the winner tower of the striking competition organised annually by the Essex Bellringing Association.
1984	The Ernie Johnson Call Change trophy was constructed using oak from the old Goldhanger bell frame by Tollesbury tower Captain Bob Leavett to commemorated Ernie's life and achievements as a dedicated and well known Essex ringer. The trophy is still presented today to the winner tower of the local call-change competition organised annually by the Essex Bellringing Association.
1992	The one hundredth peal was rung at St Peters to mark Tower Captain Bernard Mann's 80th birthday, plus the 40 years since the upgrade to 8 bells and the 30 years Bernard had been the tower captain.
2005	In January 2005 the bellringers organised a fund raising activity for those affected by the Indonesian Tsunami. Each afternoon the bells were rung or popular tunes played on the Ellacombe Chimes in response to requests from sponsors in the village. Over a two week period several hundred pounds were raised.
2005	A radio programme entitled: Funeral of a Bellringer was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 which recalled the ringing life of the former Goldhanger Tower Captain, Bernard Mann. The programme has the voices of Rosemary Mann, Bernard's widow, and other relatives, together with former Tower Captains, Cyril Southgate (in his gentle, unique Suffolk/Essex burr), and the late Ken Perry. A three minute audio extract of the programme is at. . . Funeral of a Bellringer
2006	David Webb wrote a poem for a special bellringers' Church service...
	Oh what are you ringing you Goldhanger ringers; Is it to Matins you summon your friends; Who'll call the change which will signal your ending, Who'll grasp the sally as the tenor bell ends? How greatly your voice can embellish a nuptial With tintabulation from the treble you sing. T'is no coincidence that the bride and her consort Are each proudly shining their bright golden ring. Or is it the cry of a baby new christened Will call each of the ringers to loosen a rope To ring the godparents and friends and relations To the thrill and delight of Christ's message of Hope?					Only one pair of hands for the tolling bell is needed To say fond farewell to a friend whom we love, But imagine the tumult, of joy and of welcome, Which peals out from the belfry in Heaven above. 'To God be the glory' is our constant injunction, It's fixed in our hearts by the hymn that we sing In nervous beginnings, in practised performance, It is only to you Lord, in praise, that we ring.
2008	A study of Improving the sound of the bells was undertaken to analyse the difference between the sound produced by some of the bells when full circle ringing compared with the sound produced by the same bells using Ellacombe chimes. The conclusion was that clapper buffers fitted in the past had made a significant improvement, but most had worn away and some new simple devices were fitted.
2014 -2018	As part of the commemorations of the 100th anniversary of Great War, the bells are being rung on the exact date of the deaths of the nineteen men who are named on the War Memorial.
The bells are regularly maintained and continue to be in good working order and a programme of maintenance work has recently been undertaken to prevent any deterioration and possible breakages... • Reshrouding and resoling the tenor wheel • Refurbishing all rope pulleys • Welding new clapper staples onto each clapper The bells are still regularly rung by the local band and by visiting ringers from around the country, who frequently take advantage of the excellent meals and refreshments in The Chequers next door.
____________________ The Ellacombe Chimes The Ellacombe Chimes is a device that enables one person to ring all the bells. The mechanism was invented by the Revd. H.T. Ellacombe in the Parish of Bitton, near Bath in the late 1800s. The device is in two parts, a wall-mounted rack in the ringing chamber with ropes that go up to the bell chamber, and counter-balanced under-hammers that strike the rim of each bell.
During full circle ringing, the under-hammers must be moved out of the path of the swinging bells. This is achieved by disconnecting, or loosening the ropes on the rack in the ringing chamber. It has been said that Revd. Ellacombe devised the mechanism originally so that all bells could be rung without involving a band of unruly and drunken ringers! In St Peters tower however, several methods of ringing and musical styles have been devised. From hand written music scores preserved in the tower that date back to time when the bells and the chimes rack were upgraded to an octave of eight bell in the 1950s, we know that the chimes were used to play carols at Christmas and appropriate hymns during Lent.									Ellacombe hammer in the lower left
The Ellacombe Chimes in St Peter's Church is still occasionally used today which is unusual. For example, during 2014 to 2018 the chimes are being used to play appropriate music to commemorate the 100th anniverary of the exact date of the death of each of the Goldhanger Great-War fallen. Goldhanger also took part in the worldwide celebration took place on the 200th anniversary of the Revd Henry Thomas Ellacombe’s invention of the device which was on the 26th June 2021. For more information about that event see... www.bittonhistory.org.uk/ellacombe-chimes-bicentennial and http://www.bittonhistory.org.uk/.../Chimes-Leaflet-FINAL1.pdf a book was also produced, see... Virtual Library.htm#Ellacombe Links to over 130 videos on the Facebook Group made on the day including at Goldhanger are at... www.churchside1.plus.com/EllacombeWorldwideVideos.htm More information about the Ellacombe Chimes, the history, how to set up and play it, examples of the sounds, etc. is at... Ellacombe Chimes support ________________________________________ top a study of tower history clock in the bell tower St Peters Church home