'Ambitious' centenary bell peal to honour Bray church’s ringing history

The 100th anniversary of the first peal at a historic Bray church will be honoured with a historical rendition of ringing of the bells on Saturday (January 31).

St Michael's Church in Bray has a ring of eight bells which are rung by a team of dedicated bellringers.

People have been sounding the bells at Bray for a hundred years – the first peal was rung on January 30, 1926.

At that time, there were six heavy bells, made at different times between 1612 and 1914. Two smaller ones, the treble and the second, were added later, in 1948.

Ringing the original six bells, which together weighed 24 hundredweight (roughly 1.2 tonnes), would have been strenuous work for the bellringers of yore.

Moreover, they had been installed in a ‘strangely designed’ steel frame, which moved in a manner that made the bells difficult to ring.

As such, they were rehung in a new frame in 1985 by Whitechapel Bellfoundry, a historic London company founded in 1570.

One of the oldest manufacturing businesses in Britain, it supplied thousands of church bells across the UK and worldwide.

The company also retuned the Bray bells and supplied many new fittings.

Thanks to their work, unwanted movement of the belltower during ringing was reduced, the bells became easier to handle and they sounded better – a legacy that lasts to this day.

However, they remain extremely large and still require good technique to ring them well.

To commemorate the centenary of the first ever peal, the Bray bellringers will be undertaking a special peal on Saturday (January 31).

To date, there have been 87 peals rung at Bray – and, since the addition of the two lighter bells in 1948, all of them have been on the full ring of eight.

But this time, for historical authenticity, the bellringers will be aiming to recreate the efforts of the 1926 band by ringing just the heaviest six.

The peal will start at 10am and, if successful, should last about three hours and fifteen minutes.

To demonstrate the ‘progressive, maybe ambitious or plain deluded’ nature of the band, they will be attempting a more complex set of methods than their predecessors a century ago.

There are 41 standard ways to ring six bells. Up until 2012, if a band wanted to perform a full-length peal including all of them, they had to ring 7,200 sequences – taking ‘well over’ four hours – because it is difficult to splice some of the methods together. 

Skilled composers have now worked out a way to ring all 41 methods in a normal-length peal of 5,040 changes, and that’s what the bellringers will be attempting on Saturday.

“If successful, it will be an impressive feat of stamina, strength and concentration,” the band said.

“Please do come along and listen if you’re interested. The ringing should be of a high standard and will of course be commemorating a very special anniversary.”

The bellringers are ‘always happy to welcome new people.’ If interested, visit on a Monday evening from 7.30 to 9pm to find out more.

“Despite the aspirational nature of this particular performance, we remain a very grounded band and continue to teach ringers all the time, so have a steady stream of learners,” they said.