Blessington bells have rung out since 1682
REPORTER DAVID MEDCALF JOINED A GROUP OF BELL-RINGERS FOR THEIR WEEKLY SESSION ON A SET OF BELLS THAT HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCING CHURCH SERVICES AND CELEBRATIONS IN BLESSINGTON FOR MORE THAN THREE CENTURIES
DING- DONG merrily on high. The festive season is fore ver associated with the pealing of bells, though most communities around Ireland are not as well- endowed in this regard as Blessington. St Mary’s Church of Ireland Church in the heart of the town has the hardware to ring out over the busy traffic on the N81 which passes by the wrought iron gates.
A full set of six bells is accommodated in the neat tower, primed and ready to mark occasions, whether happy or sad – just as they have done for centuries. The biggest of the six is fitted with an automatic device to strike the passing hours, giving Blessington a living pulse.
As the current crop of bell ringers ascend the tower, they follow stone steps worn down by their predecessors in unbroken succession since the 17th century.
The six bronze beauties overhead were cast in 1682 by the London firm of James Bartlet, slightly pre-dating the consecration of the church itself.
They have been in action for so long that they are dented where they have been repeatedly struck by metal clappers. The Bartlet name remains emblazoned as clear as ever, visible to those who venture up creaky wooden stairs to the very the top of the tower. The clappers, however, are less resilient and have to be replaced every so often.
A mere 335 years does not quite make these the oldest working bells in the country – an honour held at St Audoen’s Church in Dublin, which boasts a campanological pedigree dating back in part to 1423. Nevertheless, they are the longest surviving complete set, which is a fair claim to fame compared to most of the 35 or so other churches affiliated to the Irish Association of Change Ringers.
The bells currently in use at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, for instance, date back no earlier than the 1890s, though they have 15 of them there, compared to Blessington’s modest sextet. The vast majority of the parishes affiliated to the IACR are Anglican but the desire to make that glorious noise also extends to at least three Roman Catholic churches.
Indeed, some ringers humorously like to give the impression that they are a cult which operates at a parallel remove from the orthodoxies of any one religion. The common factor enjoyed by the denizens of these various belfries is teamwork rather than the- ology or prayer. It is teamwork which marks these churches out from ones where a single bell may be sounded for the midday Angelus or to summons the faithful to prayers.
The only other County Wicklow church on the list, by the way, is in Arklow where the eight bells in the tower of St Saviour’s have fallen largely silent in recent times.
The enthusiasts of Blessington maintain a lively interest in a long-held tradition which retains a freshness to this day. Though the supporting framework has been repeatedly repaired and
TO HAVE A FULL SET AS OLD AS THE ONES HERE IS UNUSUAL... THERE IS NO REASON WHY THEY SHOULD NOT LAST ANOTHER 500 YEARS
renovated over the years since 1682, the six bells in St Mary’s remain very much intact.
Coach Derek McEndoo comes from Saint Patrick’s Cathedral on Monday evenings to ensure that his charges are working safely and well. The Dubliner, who succeeded the late Charlie Reede as mentor, is also capable of performing a few running repairs if necessary.
‘ To have a full set as old as this is unusual but there is no reason why they should not last another 500 years,’ declares Derek after inspection, tweaking the wooden frame around the number 2 bell. He contracted the bell-ringing bug at the age of around ten when he was a boy soprano in the cathedral choir. A visit to the belfry persuaded him that he would be better pulling on a rope than singing hymns and anthems.
‘You won’t find a more patient or dedicated man than Derek,’ insists Joan Griffith, one of his enthusiastic Blessington pupils.
The most venerable among the current team of ringers in St Mary’s is Neville Gyves who has been a regular in the tower for more than half a century. Others in the group under the McEndoo command in Blessington include Sandra Doran, Grania Glancy, Enda Carmody, Val Harris, David Doran and Violet Hanbidge. In the past, the line-up would have been overwhelmingly male but this changed over the course of the past 100 years to the extent that the ladies now predominate.
THE 35 stone steps lead up to the bell chamber, a remarkable square room with its grey rubble stone walls and six ropes hanging down from holes in the timber ceiling high above everyone’s heads. The mullioned window allows a view out over the modern main street from this most venerable of vantage points.
These days, the ringers have the benefit of electric light and even a heater, though their exertions readily work up a sweat so it is not really necessary. On a blackboard which hangs off the stonework is a list of the six bells, along with the weight of each, ranging from the smallest at 234 kilos to the mighty tenor hitting the scales at more than half a tonne – 618 kilos.
The ropes are made from hemp, a natural material which is reckoned kinder to the hands than any of the alternatives. Around each one is wound a fluffy looking section called a ‘sally’ which comes in the Wicklow colours of blue and yellow.
The first job of the team on each of the weekly practise evenings is to warm themselves up by tugging the bells into position, ready to perform simple routines in earnest. They are left hanging down at rest when not in use but playing them properly and under control requires that they start upside down.
On the command, they swing through 180 degrees, stop, then swing 360 degrees in the other direction with the clapper striking the bronze each time.
‘Pull and stretch,’ calls Derek, urging on his followers as they reach up high at his bidding. The trick is for each ringer to keep a steady rhythm going in close association with the others on duty, hauling on the rope, steadying with the sally, pulling once more – over and over again.
It is physical work, with a five minute round as good as a gym session, guaranteed to banish the winter cold on even the chilliest of nights.
Derek’s concern and that of secretary Sandra Doran is to ensure that there are enough people enrolled and trained and willing to shin up the stone steps on a regular basis. The sound is not usually very fancy, restricted to simple ‘methods’, rather than attempting the more elaborate ‘peals’ which are the height of ringing ambition.
According to the old church records dating back to the early eighteenth century, the bells at St. Mary’s rang out just six days a year. The twenty-first century programme of the modern era is considerably more ambitious.
A visiting group from Britain created quite a stir in the town when they took over for a marathon session and pealed loudly for three hours without stopping on St Patrick’s Day in 2015. The locals are less flamboyant, content to rehearse once a week and then turn out to welcome worshippers once a month at Sunday’s 10.30 a.m. service.
Of course, the bells are always manned at Yuletide ding-donging merrily each Christmas Day. Always? Nearly always. Silence was observed on December 25, 2010, when temperatures fell to an Arctic minus 15 degrees centigrade and it was feared that the Bartlet bronze might shatter in the bitterest of bitter cold.
‘We were worried about the old casting so we didn’t ring for Christmas that year,’ recalls secretary and general organiser Sandra Doran. ‘It probably would have cracked the bells.’
It almost goes without mentioning that the notion of ringing in the New Year is a reality in Blessington each January 1. The call goes out too for weddings and sometimes the belfry is in action for funerals, when the clappers may be muffled to add a suitably solemn tone to the burial.
The methods played are mostly well established, with names such as ‘Erin’ and ‘Plain Hunt’, though new ones such as ‘Mexican Wave’ are being added to the repertoire under Derek McEndoo’s expert direction. The order in which the ropes should enter the sequence for each method is marked up on the blackboard. The result is sound more than music, with Derek confessing he does not know which note is broadcast by any of the bells.
Those who haul on the ropes are members of a fraternity which extends far and wide. They are primed to compete against others in the region for the prized Lindoff Cu - won by the team in St Mary’s back in 1969.
They sent representatives to Cork recently when the country’s newest set of bells was commissioned in Dunmanway.
They also enjoyed the company of like-minded enthusiasts at the bell-ringers’ Christmas party held in the crypt under Dublin’s Christ Church Cathedral. The attendance included comrades visiting Ireland from as far away as Brazil and the United States.
Ring around the globe.