Bell Ringing at St Mary Magdalen, Oxford

Tower 3 on the Lilliputters Guild Christmas Outing took us to the opposite end of the spectrum from Christ Church, at the very light ten of “St Mary Mags” (not to be confused with Magdalen College, another ring of ten about five minutes’ walk away).

The bells were six in number until fairly recently. Like St Thos, the restoration was led by Steven Ivin; the tenor was recast in 1988, and the others in 1990. They were then augmented twice; to eight in 2000, and to ten shortly after in 2001, with Taylors the founder of choice.

They handle well and sound quite pretty, but are very light and do whiz round – getting a good speed and accurate rhythm is not always easy, especially for Royal. St Mary Mags is the home tower of the Oxford University Society – with much memorabilia on the walls to show for this – and the bells are popular and readily available for peals, quarters, and other such “extra ringing”.

The touches featured here are some Cambridge Royal, and two lots of jump call-changes (Forwards, Backwards and Queens). Jimmy and Euan also redesigned their faces here; one could argue this was an improvement!

Tenor 7-1-12 in A.

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