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 St Andrew, Dent
St Andrew, Dent: bell ringing
locality type:-   ring of bells


photograph
BQY29.jpg (taken 1.7.2009)  
photograph
BQY30.jpg (taken 1.7.2009)  
photograph
BQY31.jpg (taken 1.7.2009)  
photograph
BQY32.jpg (taken 1.7.2009)  
Wood and iron from the bell frame, broken up during restoration work, 2009.

hearsay:-  
Adam Sedgwick remembered the church tower being built, about 1787? And when the tower was opened, with the bells ringing:-
"A young man, named Thomas Batty, took me from the nurse's arms, and carried me up the ladders of the steeple to shew me the bells while they were ringing their merry peal. However sweet the bells might be at a proper distance, their noise was terrific and enough to tear the bones of the head asunder when the ear was in the same room with them. So I kicked with my little feet against the breast of the bearer, and he soon took me down and restored me to my nirse's arms."
Church bells were used to give notice of 'news'. Adam Sedgwick heard the bells of Sedbergh, and being told what they were for, got the news of the victory of the Battle of Waterloo, 1815, from the postman, hurried to Dent and announced the news in the market place:-
"... I read, at the highest pitch of my voice, the news from the Gazette Extraordinary to the anxious crowd which pressed around me. After the tumultuous cheers had somewhat subsided, I said, 'Let us thank God for this great victory, and let the six bells give us a merry peal.' As I spoke these words an old weather-beaten soldier who stood under me said, 'It is great news, and it is good news, if it brings us peace. Yes,' continued the old soldier, 'let the six bells ring merrily, but it has been a fearful struggle: and how many aching hearts will there be when the list of killed and wounded becomes known to the mothers, wives and daughters of those who fought and bled for us! But the news is good, and let the six bells ring merrily.'"
But by the 1860s the bells were silent of 'news', Adam Sedgwick:-
"... when I revisited the home of my early life, the bells were as silent as the grave; because the inhabitants grudged the little fee which in former times had been paid to the ringers. ..."

:-  
The 6 bells were cast by William Mears, 1787. They have not been ringable for 100 years. They were taken off to Whitechapel Bell Foundry, 2009, to be renovated, and will come back to be hung for change ringing.

Dove data:-  
scale:-
A, B, C sharp, D, E, F sharp
First 6 notes; intervals TTSTT; A major.
Unringable
Bells cast by William Mears, 1787.

Dove 2009
www.dove.cccbr.org.uk

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