The bells of St Bride's,
Fleet Street - or The
lost bells of change-ringing's most important tower. |
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St Bride's is possibly the oldest Christian foundation in London. According to Stow, the church was at first small, but extended greatly in 1480 by William Venor, Warden of the Fleet, who built a new large nave and aisles, leaving the existing building as the choir. It stood outside the City walls, but within Temple Bar, and was used for holding courts of law. The Inventory taken during the reign of Edward VI shows that this church had a saunce bell, and a ring of bells. Prior to the Great Fire of London in 1666, the tower of this church was known to contain a ring of eight, with a tenor of over 40cwt, and from an early period St Bride's was one of four churches appointed to ring the Curfew; St Mary-le-Bow was another. The great fire in 1666 claimed this church and bells; Sir Christopher Wren was appointed to build the replacement. The body and tower were constructed between 1670 and 1684 at a cost of £11,430 5s 11d. The steeple, completed in 1700, is the highest in London at some 226 feet, and possibly the inspiration behind the design of the wedding cake. The first bells in the new church did not arrive until 1710, when Abraham Rudhall installed a ring of 10 with a tenor 28 cwt in D-flat. These were not the first such ring: St Sepulchre's had been augmented to 10 in 1671 to facilitate the desire to practice Grandsire Caters, though it seems that they were not all that satisfactory, for the ninth had to be recast in 1686, the two trebles in 1698, the ninth again in 1699, and the second again in 1701 (the latter two recastings largely at the expense of the College Youths). However, on the arrival of the bells at St Bride's, the London Scholars began to meet there regularly to practise Grandsire Caters, and on January 11th 1717 this society rang the first peal in that method (also the first peal on ten bells). Presumably the College Youths also rang there for in 1719 the two societies gave the two trebles that would create the first certain ring of twelve (though it is documented that St Mary-le-Bow had twelve bells before the fire of London, and research shows York to have had a similar number from 1681, it is not certain that either of these "rings" were created for the purposes of twelve-bell ringing). In accordance with the spirit of the times, when change-ringing was considered an ordinary sport, the two societies considered these trebles to be their property, and kept them chained up so that no other ringers could use them! In 1736 the fifth and sixth were recast by Samuel Knight, but otherwise the bells remained intact as a ringing peal until their destruction in 1940. What methods were practised are open to speculation, however the repertoire must have included Grandsire Cinques, for on January 19th 1725 (often given as 1724, from the old calendar), a band of College Youths rang the first ever twelve-bell peal; also being the first recorded peal by that society. This peal, some 4½ hours in duration, was composed by William Jackson, and showed an appreciation of musical qualities of keeping the bells in the "Tittums" position for much of the composition, though the composer did not yet know how this may be achieved throughout the whole peal-length. Details of the composition may be found in the College Youths' peal book. The peal details are also given as follows:- |
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The other name is, of course, Benjamin Annable. Annable, who was a baker and had been born near the church (all according to Trollope), may well have seen the new ring of ten bells arrive from Gloucester by barge. There is some confusion over his date of birth. From information in the Clavis it is suggested that he was born sometime between 1686 and 1696, though the commonly-held idea is that Annable was just 20 over when the twelve-bell peal was rung. This latter notion is based on some inconclusive parish records, and it is safer to assume an earlier date of birth. He joined the College Youths in 1721 when he composed and conducted a peal of 5058 Grandsire Caters at St Magnus-the-Martyr, however at the time of the Grandsire Cinques, he had not yet risen to lead the society. Very shortly this was to change: the next three peals at St Bride's were all composed and conducted by Annable, who rang the tenor on all three occasions, and firmly established himself as an excellent heavy-bell ringer and composer. These peals were of Plain Bob Major, Royal, and Maximus, and with their completion the band had scored the first peals of Royal, Cinques, and Maximus, and the second peal of Major, all within the space of thirteen months. The ringers for each peal stood as follows:- |
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Edward Osbourne, writing in about 1845, says of this last peal:- | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The contribution Annable made to shaping peal-ringing as we know it cannot be underestimated. In the field of composition Annable's fingerprints can be seen on the compositional standards used today; it was Annable who decided to make the tenors the fixed observation bells in Major and above, and his composition of Plain Bob Major is still rung today. Benjamin Annable died on February 1st 1756, and was buried under the tower of the church; sadly his grave is unmarked today. The following appeared in an unidentified newspaper, and shows the esteem with which this great man was held: |
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It is worth recording here that the "Ancients" had a brief period of brilliancy following the breakup and subsequent influx of the London Youths. These were led by William Jones, and had been practicing at St Bride's for some years, having rung a peal of Bob Maximus there three days after the "Junior" College Youth's record Treble Bob Maximus of 1777. These ex-London Youths joined the "Ancients" at St Martin-in-the-Fields; this period of brilliancy ended with the dissolution of the "Ancients" in 1788, but not before they had achieved the first peal of Stedman Cinques on October 6th of that year. Following the break-up, the College Youths effectively re-merged, and activity now centered on the twelve at St Martin's-in-the-Fields. St Bride's now took the back-seat, though this is possibly more to do with the state of the bells: we know that the tower was renovated in 1796, when the peal board recording the London Scholars' 1717 Grandsire Caters was destroyed. The next peal at St Bride's was in 1798, one of 5040 Treble Bob Maximus, then it was to be forty-three years before another peal was achieved. In 1841 the Cumberlands rang a peal of Oxford Treble Bob Maximus, and
returned two years later to ring another of Stedman Cinques. In 1850 the
College Youths rang a peal of Stedman Cinques which was composed and conducted
by John Cox. Cox had been appointed Steeplekeeper at St Bride's by the
College Youths, though when he defected to the Cumberlands, effective
control of the tower went with him. |
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The beginning of the 20th Century, and what was to prove to be the last forty years of the bells' existence, is perhaps the most sad. Owing to the rise of the Newspaper industry and the close proximity of the presses, St Bride's bells fell virtually silent. The last two peals on the bells were scored in 1903, the details as follows:- |
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The interest in the bells had been revived by the Cumberlands, who had literally dug the bells out of guano. During the 1930s the bells were rung infrequently, but ringing was established on notable occasions such as the 1935 Silver Jubilee, every Lord Mayor's Day, the 1936 Central Council Meeting, and the 1937 Coronation. Between each occasion the ropes were removed to prevent their rapid deteriation: the tower was evidently filthy inside, and the bells somewhat open to the elements. The ringing-chamber was dimly lit by a single 40 watt bulb, scarcely illuminating the large ancient peal boards that hung as testament to the history made in this tower. It seems that they were last rung in 1938; the onset of war silenced, and ultimately claimed the bells during an air raid which destroyed the church on the night of December 29th 1940. Surprisingly few of the war-time London ringers ever rang on the bells. Jim Prior once explained to the author that he had never rung there as the bells were considered to be a "rough old lot, and not very good". He went on to say that pre-war London was overflowing with such rings, and the ringers at this time were indifferent to the bells; they had more than enough other towers at which to ring. It is only since the bells have been lost that their true value is realised. What followed after the war may at best be described as an unfortunate turn of circumstance. Though there was a definite intention to replace the twelve, somehow the plans never came to fruition. Instead an electronic 25-note Compton "carillon" machine was purchased, adding final insult to historic injury. During the reconstruction of the tower concrete floors were cast, and a frame layout was drafted by Mears & Stainbank to position the twelve rope holes that were cast into the ringing chamber ceiling. Taylors later became involved in the project and eventually cast a 15cwt bell, designed to be the 10th in a new ring with a tenor of 28cwt in D. This bell, inscribed "Curfew", and with inscriptions also taken from some of the lost bells, now hangs in a single low-sided frame with full-circle fittings (even marked as number 10) in an otherwise empty bell chamber. The massive louver-windows have been bricked up, save for small openings, as a precursor to full variable sound control facilities. In the 1980s the electronic "carillon", much-loathed by Fleet Street, ceased to work and was replaced by the tape-recording of bells that bears at least some passing resemblance to change-ringing. It is just to be hoped that one day this, the scene of Benjamin Annable's triumphs and the true home of peal ringing, can once more hold a ring of bells that may be considered one of the greatest novelties of the day, and the tower be restored to its rightful place at the forefront of the exercise.
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Sources: |
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Beard, "The Works of Christopher Wren", 1987 Cook, "The Society of College Youths", 1987 |
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RW 36/741 40/220 40/232 40/244 40/256 40/268 Bell News and Ringers Record 1903 |