(See page [5].)
Several ancient manuscripts have pictures which throw light on the use of bells in early times, as, for instance, one which depicts a performer on a row of small “hand-bells” suspended from an arch, which he strikes with a hammer (Plate [2]). Another portrays King David engaged in a similar act ([Frontispiece]); and others give representations of church towers or turrets with bells hanging in them, apparently without wheels or ringing arrangements (Plate [3]). In the Bayeux tapestry there is a representation of the funeral of Edward the Confessor, in which the corpse is accompanied by two boys, each ringing a pair of hand-bells.
From a manuscript in the British Museum.
Two bells hung in a church tower or turret; the method of hanging not shown. (See page [6].)
Ancient bells were invariably dedicated with elaborate ceremonies, and were baptized with the name of the saint or other person after whom they were named (Plate [4]). The bells at Croyland, just mentioned, were named Pega, Bega, Turketyl, Tatwin, Bartholomew, Betelin, and Guthlac. There is, however, much disputing as to the exact ceremonies employed, some authorities maintaining that bells were neither baptized nor even “washed,” but merely blessed and consecrated, so as to be set apart from all secular uses.
In the Norman and early Plantagenet period the use of bells must have been generally recognized. In London we hear of one Alwoldus, a campanarius (1150), which can only mean “bell-founder.” And as early as the reign of Richard I the Guild of Saddlers were granted the privilege of ringing the bells of the Priory of S. Martin-le-Grand on the occasion of their bi-weekly masses in the church. The priory was also entitled to claim the sum of 8d. for ringing at the funeral of deceased members of the Guild. Some of the bell-cotes of our smaller parish churches, as at Northborough in Northants and Manton, Rutland, appear to date from the Norman period (Plate [5]). In the twelfth century Prior Conrad gave five large bells to Canterbury Cathedral, and in 1050 there were seven at Exeter; to ring the former no less than sixty-three men were required!
But these are all mere historical records, and it may be of more interest to know whether any bells of this remote date still exist in England. With one or two exceptions, bells did not begin to bear inscriptions until the fourteenth century, and even then we do not find dates upon them. The only early-dated bells in England are at Claughton, in Lancashire (1296), and Cold Ashby, Northants (1317). There are, however, here and there bells of a peculiar shape which it is possible to assign to a period previous to the fourteenth century. They are long and cylindrical in form, with hemispherical or square heads, and usually very unpleasing in tone, as the straight sides check vibration. One such bell, formerly in Worcester Cathedral, and now in the possession of Lord Amherst of Hackney, must belong to the ring put up by Bishop Blois in 1220 in honour of our Lord and His Mother. Even more remarkable is a bell at Caversfield in Oxfordshire, dedicated “in honour of S. Lawrence,” a long inscription on the edge showing that it was given by Hugh Gargate, Lord of the Manor in the reign of King John (about 1210), and Sybilla his wife. Such an inscription is very rare at this early date; and it is interesting to note that it is in plain Roman or Saxon capital letters, whereas all the later inscribed bells have what are known as Gothic or Lombardic letters, which came in about the end of the thirteenth century. Most counties possess examples of these long, narrow bells; they are specially common in Shropshire and Northumberland.