St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh

St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, Society of Change Ringers exists first and foremost to ring the bells before Sunday services. To do this to a satisfactory standard, and to add to their skills, the band practises every week on Thursday evenings. Various other opportunities for ringing also arise, such as marriages, funerals, other special services, peals and quarter peals. The Society of Change Ringers also organises visits other towers and welcomes visiting ringers to Edinburgh. Change Ringing is both an art and a science, has its own terminology , cannot be undertaken alone, and is therefore sociable, and a wonderful means of giving physical and mental expression to one's faith.

There is a fine ring of ten bells hung in the central tower of the Cathedral for full-circle ringing. They were the gift of the first Dean of St Mary's, the Very Revd James F Montgomery. The bells were all cast by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough to weight ratios defined by Lord Grimthorpe who was a leading bell designer of his day. This is one of only a few complete Grimthorpe rings still in existence. The bells were dedicated on 29th October 1879. Since their installation very little work has been carried out. They were retuned and rehung in 1935. The fourth had to be re-cast in 1982 after cracking.

Each of the bells is named and this is recalled by the ringers in the Belfry prayer:

Shed abroad, O Lord, in our hearts, and in the hearts of those to whom the sound of these bells shall come, the manifold gifts of Thy Holy Spirit - the graces of Humility, Temperance and Patience, of Devotion and Holy Fear, of Peace and Joy, of Faith, Hope and Charity; and grant that they may, in our lives, bring forth the fruits of good works, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The bellringers of St Mary's Cathedral are affiliated to the Scottish Association of Change Ringers and have a responsibility to host ringing meetings and practices for ringers throughout Scotland.

Ringing times are Sunday from 9.45 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. and Thursday from 7.30 p.m. to 9.15 p.m. If you would like to know more, then please contact the Tower Secretary, Helen Brotherton, .

Terminology

Peals and Quarter Peals

In the last couple of years the bellringers at the Cathedral have rung numerous quarter peals and several peals have been rung here too so some explanation of what this means is probably long overdue! Ringing terminology will be highlighted like this.

The bells at St Mary's are hung for change ringing. They have a frame, ropes and wheels to allow the ringers to sound the bells when they wish. When the bells sound down a scale they are ringing rounds. A change is when the bells ring in an order other than rounds. The rules and conventions of ringing forbid the repetition of changes except when 6 bells or fewer are being rung and in those cases various rules must be observed for the ringing to reach an acceptable standard. Changesmethods. are arranged in systematic patterns known as

Various instructions (calls) are given by the conductor and these affect the number of changes being rung. A quarter peal consists of a minimum of 1250 changes and a peal comprises not fewer than 5000 changes rung without interval. Peals and quarter peals must start from and end with rounds. No visible aids to memory are permitted in conducting or ringing and each bell is rung throughout by the same person. On the bells at St Mary's this means ringing for between 45 and 55 minutes to complete a quarter peal and for the best part of four hours for a peal.

Should there be any mishaps after the bells have gone into changes, then the attempt is lost and a new start must be made. This can be extremely frustrating especially in circumstances such as peal ringing where much work has gone in to assembling a band and obtaining permission to ring. Failed peal and quarter peal attempts are caused by many and varied human causes and factors outwith the ringers control, the most frequent being memory lapses and broken ropes. Successful peal and quarter peal attempts are very satisfying achievements for the individual ringers, the band as a whole and for the exercise.

(Exercise is the generic word preferred by ringers for the collective fraternity and practice of change ringing.) 

Edinburgh Delight

This set of changes is the first 'lead' of Edinburgh Delight. The 'blue line' for this method is highlighted by the tenor, 6th. In this method all the bells except the treble, 1st, perform the same actions, but starting at different positions. An additional 4 blocks of 24 changes would return all the bells to their starting position. A peal consists of at least 5000 changes, rung continuously, and would take about 3 and a half hours at St Mary's. There are strict rules concerning peal ringing.