The nine tellers

[john]

The traditional tolling to indicate the death of a person dates from long
before the introduction of full circle ringing.     Chris Pickford has given
the reason why this ringing was carried out in the way it was.        There
are elaborate rules for ringing before services at Lincoln Cathedral dating
from 1260.     The way in which the bells were rung  indicated which of the
many services was to take place and changed as the time approached so that
the clergy knew how much time they had to robe before the service started.
So the nine tellers was an essential way of communicating an important item
of news.     Obviously tollers has been corrupted over time to tailors.

As historians we have to remember that so many traditions originated for a
purpose many hundreds of years ago.       We can adapt these traditions as
we wish to suit our own purpose but please don't forget how and why they
originated.

By the way I think when we refer to a bell being 'tolled'   we think of a
large bell and a small bell is 'chimed'.   For example the five ton bell
'Great Tom' of Lincoln Cathedral is 'tolled' to announce  the death of a
dignitary but the two smaller bells in the North West tower are chimed each
day to announce the closing of the cathedral at night.    One bell is chimed
a number of times equivalent to the day of the month and the second bell
makes up the number to 101.