Prinknash Abbey

[David Bryant]

I've been curious about the bells at Prinknash Abbey in Gloucestershire
since acquiring a postcard of them (which I now seem to have misplaced) a
couple of years ago. For some reason they aren't mentioned in Bliss &
Sharpe's Gloucestershire.

Looking at Mike Chester's chimes list I see that it says the following of
them:

"1910 (6); 1931 (2). J Taylor. The 1909 six hung originally for chiming at
Caldey Abbey,with the two other bells (nos. 3 and 7) hung for ringing.
removed 1930. The ringing bells the Cistercians retained, and are still
there. New bells 3 & 7 inserted into chime; all 8 hang on a chiming frame at
ground level and are chimed by an Ellacombe apparatus"

What is the story behind this? It seems strange to hang 3 and 7 of an octave
for ringing. How were the others hung? Are they cast to ringing weights? Why
were they moved such a short time after installation, yet leaving the
ringing bells behind?

David