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Bow Bells – A New Steeple-keeper 

Many of you will be aware of the nursery rhyme ‘Oranges and Lemons’.  Do you know which churches the rhyme refers to?  

They are:
  1.  St. Clement Danes in The Strand
  2.  St. Martin in The Fields, Trafalgar Square
  3.  St. Sepulchre, Holborn Viaduct opposite The Old Bailey.  (The tenor used to be tolled prior to executions)
  4.  Shoreditch
  5.  Stepney
  6.  St. Mary le Bow

Bow are also renowned as the bells Dick Whittington heard, which made him turn back to London, where he later became Mayor.  One of the few changes that ringers have named comes from this – Whittingtons.  This is often rung on 6 bells (531246) or on 8 bells (12753468), but actually it is truly a 12 bell change because it originates from Bow (531246E9780T).

These facts make Bow a very important ring of bells, but Bow is also special for a number of other reasons.  For a start, it is the venue for the Court of Arches, the Supreme Court of the Church of England.  It occupies a splendid location on Cheapside, just east of St. Paul’s (in fact, part of St. Paul’s crypt is in the Parish of Bow, as is the Cathedral School).   It also houses one of the biggest rings of bells in the country with the tenor weighing in at 41cwt 3qtrs 21lbs, which in simple terms is just over 2 tons.

I am therefore very proud to have been chosen as the new steeple-keeper, a job which entails not only managing the ringing on the bells, but also their maintenance, the maintenance of the clock, changing of the flag and other sundry duties.  So my current priority is to get to grips with the requirements of the post.  My predecessor, Mark Regan, has done the job for 25 years and has a vast wealth of knowledge about the bells which will take time for me to learn – quite and act to follow!

Some may wonder what this means for my ringing at my local tower (Shipley).  Well Bow is essentially a weekday tower; there are no Sunday services.  A number of associations use the bells from time to time, the College Youths and Cumberlands practice there regularly and there are many peals and quarters.  There are a number of keyholders who are available to let ringers in.  There is also a group of ringers who mainly work in London who ring for services throughout the year, many of these services are at lunchtime.  So I am sure there will be some conflicts, but generally speaking I believe it will be complimentary to my ringing at Shipley.

Simon Meyer, Shipley


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