Devon Call Change Ringing at Cricklade, Wiltshire

The second tower of the Devon call-change ringers’ day took us to another fun ring of bells!

Cricklade are an interesting ring, to say the least! With a 65-foot draught and a 19-foot square tower, the massive space can make for a very daunting experience. (There's some 13 foot between the 4th and 5th ropes!). The tenor rope falls uncomfortably close to the choir pew, necessitating tight handling, and the bells are hung anti-clockwise! They go reasonably well all things considering, having had some work carried out by White's of Appleton a few years ago, but are not for the faint of heart! They do sound very nice, albeit somewhat lost in the huge Tudor tower! (Other parts of the church date back to the 1200s, and possible earlier.)

The bells themselves are formed out of a ring of 4 cast by Abraham Rudhall in 1703; of these, only the present 3rd and 4th survive. The bells were last tuned by Taylors in 1937, when the present 5th was recast. In 1979, they were augmented to six in 1979, using the second bell from the previous ring of three at St Mary’s church at the other end of the high street. (The treble of these bells went to Tattingstone in Suffolk, another interesting ring; a video can be found elsewhere on my channel!). When the new treble was added, the tenor was moved over in its pit, hence the close fit with the choir pew!

As expected, the band bossed these bells and produced some very enjoyable ringing; I hope you enjoy! Cricklade itself is a very pretty and historic place, on the Wilts/Glos border, and has been a settlement in Saxon times. It is the first town of note that the River Thames flows through, and the Red Lion pub, near St Mary's church, is excellent!

Tenor 12-0-27 in F

https://sites.google.com/site/crickla...