Bell Ringing at Edington, Wiltshire

Ringing at Edington Priory, one of only two rings of ten bells in Wiltshire (the other being Christ Church, Swindon). The footage has been sitting on my computer for some time, but has never seen the light of day – until now! Apologies in advance for some of the shaky footage – the camera felt the vibrations coming through the clock case it was sitting on!

0:10 Raising the front six (filmed 16/05/2015)
0:55 Excerpts from a quarter peal of Grandsire Caters (filmed 03/06/2014)
2:49 Excerpts from a peal of Swindon Surprise Royal (filmed 16/05/2015). The exterior footage is reproduced courtesy of Patsy Thorn.
8:52 Lowering the back eight (filmed 03/06/2014)

The magnificent church is a former Priory founded in 1351 by William Edington, bishop of Winchester, and survives largely intact, including some medieval stained glass. Access to the large (but dingy) ringing chamber includes a walk across the roof! You will notice the padding on the ceiling, which dampens the sound somewhat (although the bells are still very loud inside – they are directly above!).

It’s fair to say that Edington are a rustic ring of bells. For many years, they were a heavy six, which were notoriously hard work, and only ever pealed twice. In 1968, the bells were rehung, the back 4 retuned and the present 6th recast. At this time, they were augmented to ten by Taylors, allegedly using metal from the previous ring of bells at Imber, which were removed in 1940. (But… having watched the casting of the new Edington bells at Loughborough, the parishioners walked past the old Imber bells, still intact!) One of Imber bells does survive intact however, as the present fifth in the ring.

A mixed bag, the bells somehow don’t gel as a ten, and ringing them consistently well is not easy. The front six are good, the back 6 and 8 are OK, but they just don’t seem to work as a complete ring. Edington bells are also in regular use as a teaching centre, home of the “Edingers”.

Tenor 24-0-24 in D

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