Southwark

[jim phillips]

When I rang my first peals at Southwark in the 1950's the trebles were 
certainly on wooden stocks and I think the front eight were all on wooden 
headstocks. The tenor clapper in those days was of wrought iron with rubber 
buffers either side of the clapper ball where it struck the bell. The 
trebles used to really ping out and the ringing on these fine bells resulted 
in peals of Stedman taking about 3hrs 48 mins. There was sufficient air 
given between clapper blows so that the ringers could appreciate the 
satisfying sound produced by a dedicated band. The last third of a peal was 
generally in the handstroke and I treasure the memory of the music produced.



DJB:
"Does anybody know when the canons were removed from the bells at Southwark
Cathedral? This is not clear from the tower website - which is excellent and
would serve as a very good exemplar for anyone designing a tower website."

JS:
"The bells were taken down during WW2 and not rehung until ( I think) 1947.
It may well be that the canons were removed prior to that rehanging. "

I think it is more likely that they were removed in 1910 when the back 6
received cast iron headstocks and the front 6 new elm headstocks. After the
war they were cleaned, tuned and rehung with new gudgeons and ball bearings,
but (I understand) the same headstocks.

Source: ASCY Website (so it must be right!).

DrL