| Photo by] | [C. Law. |
Saxon Tower, Earl’s Barton, Northants.
A tower built in the first half of the eleventh century and intended to contain bells. (See page [5].)
I speak of “rings of bells”—and that is a more correct term than “peal,” which refers to the sound they make—but it must be remembered that in those days bells were not rung as in modern times. At best they were “chimed,” i.e., sounded without being rung up; but change-ringing, which implies the full swinging round of the bell through a complete circle, so that the clapper strikes twice in each revolution, was only introduced in the seventeenth century, and moreover has always been peculiar to this country.
A performer on hand-bells.
From a MS. Missal in the British Museum.