Ellacombe apparatus
Encyclopedia
Ellacombe apparatus is a method for performing change ringing
of church bells requiring only one person. Unlike the traditional method, where the bells are spun 360 degrees to sound them and one person is needed for each bell, instead the bells are kept static and a hammer is struck against the inside of the bell. Each hammer is connected by a rope to a fixed frame in the bell-ringing room. The ropes are taut, and pulling one of the ropes towards the operator will strike the hammer against the bell.
The system was devised by Reverend Henry Thomas Ellacombe
of Gloucestershire, who first had such a system installed in Bitton
in 1821. It is believed he created the system to make bell-ringers redundant, so churches did not have to tolerate the behaviour of unruly bell-ringers just so they could have their bells expertly rung.
The Ellacombe apparatus has been removed from many towers in the UK, but there are still visible holes in the ceiling which the ropes would come through into the ringing chamber, and often the frames are still in the ringing chamber, without ropes. In towers where the apparatus remains intact, it is generally used like a Carillon
to play tunes.
Change ringing
Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called "changes". It differs from many other forms of campanology in that no attempt is made to produce a conventional melody....
of church bells requiring only one person. Unlike the traditional method, where the bells are spun 360 degrees to sound them and one person is needed for each bell, instead the bells are kept static and a hammer is struck against the inside of the bell. Each hammer is connected by a rope to a fixed frame in the bell-ringing room. The ropes are taut, and pulling one of the ropes towards the operator will strike the hammer against the bell.
The system was devised by Reverend Henry Thomas Ellacombe
Henry Thomas Ellacombe
Henry Thomas Ellacombe or Ellicombe , was an English divine and antiquary.-Life:Ellacombe was the son of the Rev. William Ellicombe, rector of Alphington, Devonshire, was born in 1790, and having graduated R.A. from Oriel College, Oxford, in 1812, applied himself until 1816 to the study of...
of Gloucestershire, who first had such a system installed in Bitton
Bitton
Bitton is a village and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, in the Greater Bristol area on the River Boyd.It is in the far south of the South Gloucestershire district, near the border with Bath and North East Somerset...
in 1821. It is believed he created the system to make bell-ringers redundant, so churches did not have to tolerate the behaviour of unruly bell-ringers just so they could have their bells expertly rung.
The Ellacombe apparatus has been removed from many towers in the UK, but there are still visible holes in the ceiling which the ropes would come through into the ringing chamber, and often the frames are still in the ringing chamber, without ropes. In towers where the apparatus remains intact, it is generally used like a Carillon
Carillon
A carillon is a musical instrument that is typically housed in a free-standing bell tower, or the belfry of a church or other municipal building. The instrument consists of at least 23 cast bronze, cup-shaped bells, which are played serially to play a melody, or sounded together to play a chord...
to play tunes.