<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>Having read, with interest, all that has been posted about the Tellers, Passing Bells and Curfew Bells, I wonder if anyone can help me to discover more about The Virgin’s Chimes? These have been rung at Kirkby Malham, according to published records, for centuries. If this is so, is it possible that the tradition/custom has spread to, or from, other churches?<BR>
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John W Morkill, a noted local historian wrote, in November 1933, in his large volume entitled "The Parish of Kirkby Malhamdale":<BR>
"<I>An interesting survival of bygone times is the midnight chime, on Christmas Eve, in honour of the Virgin. Ascending to the bell-chamber, theringers on this occasion manipulate the tongues of the bells with their hands. The strokes follow a prescribed order - two strokes on the smallbell, one on the middle bell, two on the great bell and, again, one on themiddle bell. The order is repeated until the first note of midnight and is resumed for a few minutes after the hour has struck. If, as seems probable, the chime had its origin in pre-reformation days, it may perhaps be inferred that the tower possessed bells from the time of its erection"</I><BR>
(The tower dates from 1495.)<BR>
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>From the late 1980’s, when the custom was restarted, after decades of silence in the tower, the "ringers" sat on the floor and clasped the flight of the clapper with both hands. They then pulled the clappers towards them in the order given above. Since augmentation they stand under the bells to ring the Virgin’s Chimes but still ring only the old trio of bells (6th, 7th, and 8th of the new eight).<BR>
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What I would like to know is:<BR>
1. Can anyone explain the origins of this custom?<BR>
2. What is the significance, if any, of the order of striking?<BR>
3. Is an identical custom practised elsewhere?<BR>
4. Is a similar custom practised elsewhere?<BR>
5. What other unusual/special ring is practised on certain days in other towers?<BR>
And, finally:<BR>
6. As there were so many three bell towers (before the Victorians melted them down and recast them as lighter rings of six or more), what is thesignificance of this number of bells? Was it to do with the Holy Trinity?<BR>
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Malcolm Bland<BR>
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