[Bell Historians] Windsor Castle

[LOVE, Dickon]

John Ketteringham asks about Windsor Castle. I too have rung on this
interesting anticlockwise GF octave - they are big old lumbering buckets,
but I quite like them. The tower is known as the "Curfew Tower" and locally,
ringers talk about "ringing at the Curfew". The large bell is known as "The
Raven" and is normally rung on the death of a reigning monarch, but I
believe that an exception is to be made on this occasion. As you can
imagine, it hasn't been rung for 50 years!

With security getting tighter and tighter, it is becoming more difficult to
ring at the Curfew. Normally plenty of notice for individuals coming into
the Castle is given to allow security passes to be made up. Don't ever
expect to turn up and grab!

There have been a number of peals on the bells - all of them Triples (I
believe). They are normally rung for "happy" royal occasions, so are
unlikely to be rung for the QM. (I don't think that they were rung for
Princess Margaret either.)

Westminster Abbey, I believe, also operates a similar policy, although times
are a changing! All the bells were rung half-muffled for Diana. However, I
recall a conversation with a senior member of the Abbey Band who said that
he thought that the QM had specifically asked *not* to have ringing at her
funeral. I will doubtlessly hear more this evening at ASCY.

DrL


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