Ringing Forums

I do wonder why you are considering Yorkshire tails in a Devon church. There's a bit of a hint in the name (though those unfortunate folk west of the Pennines have also been known to ape their betters).

There's an article here that will probably give you more than enough information about Yorkshire tails: The Rise and Fall of Yorkshire Tails

I too wondered why you asked about Yorkshire tails, but your question applies equally to sallies.
I've seen sallies in esrly 19th century pictures of ringing, but a black and white picture doesn't say much about what colour they were. It would be interesting to know when they were first coloured, and when red/white/blue became the dominant combination.

This week's Ringing World has a picture of a (stone) peal board at Stroud for a peal rung on 29th January 1842. The board has two ropes, one each side, with sallies of red, white and green. These are coloured in the original paint.

The well known picture "The Ringers of Launcells Tower,” by Frederick Smallfield (1829–1915)" depicts ringers at this Devon tower around 1887. It clearly shows ropes with sallies that are coloured in spirals, just as we have today. The actual colours are less clear, possibly just red and white. The tail-ends are bare rope, as we would expect. It is not easy to see if they are tucked back, as is customary now; perhaps there is just a single thickness wrapped around the hand. The only other style I have seen in Devon is a single example of a spliced-in loop at the tail end, large enough for the hand to pass through. I doubt that this is common but would be interested to know more about it.

The only other style I have seen in Devon is a single example of a spliced-in loop at the tail end, large enough for the hand to pass through. — Ted Steele

I seem to remember ringing in some Devon towers years ago where the tail ends were not tucked and the bells rung to their peals and down again without being stood. Ringers rang with coils. I can't imagine that Yorkshire tail ends were ever used in the West Country!

The Ringers of Launcells Tower — Ted Steele

see Wikicommons. I'd confirm just red and white. The ringer on the extreme left has a knotted loop around his left thumb. The ringer on the extreme right appears to have a knotted or tucked loop below his left hand, it doesn't look to be spliced. The Royal Cornwall Museum says that Smallfield reconstructed the painting some 77 years after the event depicted, however :"Smallfield had visited the church tower before he started painting and had studied the bell ringers at his local church in Willesden, London, to get the figures' movements correct." so treat the details with some circumspection.

Yes, there does seem to be a loop in that ringer's hand, either knotted or tucked, and some appearance of coils in other ringers' hands. Although the picture is a reconstruction of an event in 1810 the statement that it is at Launcells and the fact that the artist visited the tower prior to painting suggests that local details would be depicted fairly accurately. Apparently only the style of ringing was informed by what he saw at Willesden. Quite what ringng he is depicting here is hard to understand, a chaotic rise or lower perhaps. However the colour details cannot represent anything later than the date of the painting,1887. Obviously any painting might have inaccurate details but this one does seem a reasonable guide in this instance.

Does anyone know if Smallfield was a ringer? The reason I ask is that he may have just sketched the architecture of the tower when the ropes were out of the way (did they use spiders at that date?). He could then have sat in on a practice night locally and pulled the rope details from there. Frankly I've no way of knowing, but London or Cornwall it is fascinating to see a quite detailed picture of ringing at that time.

The reason I'm cautious is that it was common for artists to carry sketchbooks with them when travelling, photography was still very cumbersome at that time. A "visit" might be 5 minutes with a local that told him the tale, it might be all day. Then back home in the comfort of the studio an artist could work up the final image. If Smallfield's sketchbooks were available it would be interesting to see them.

Launcells is in Cornwall (just), not Devon.

Correct; my error.

Thank you very much for all of your help. That painting was the perfect reference to go by and my colleagues were thrilled that we could find an accurate answer by an authentic source! Of course painting refs can't always be an exact representation but this is by far the closest we've found and we couldn't have found It without all your help so again my thanks and keep up the good work.

Best wishes, Ellie

It is kind of you to acknowledge this Ellie; thank you. Could I however caution you on a related point? It will be good to see that ropes etc. are depicted authentically in your drama production but far more important is the sound that goes with the ringing. Unless you record actual ringing done in the Devon style and with the appropriate number of ringers and bells, you are in danger of getting the equivelant of a symphony orchestra while the scene shows a village band; or vice-versa. Do not for example show six ropes and broadcast ringing on eight bells, or the sound of advanced method ringing (let's just say good modern ringing of the mainstream style of change ringing) while the scene display ringers ringing rounds or called changes, or worse still just chiming the bells. Most lay people might not notice but many productions have displayed these and other appalling errors; they give us ringers a good laugh but do nothing for the credibility of the production. Simply letting actors chime a bell will not suffice; they either need teaching or else real ringers should be recruited. Please take advice from a reliable bell ringing source before you decide what to record and what to film. I trust these comments may be helpful and I am sure you can get further advice here if you require it.

I'd like to solidly second Ted's comments and add a couple of others that might not be apparent to non-ringers. First, watch the timing. A bell sounds around 2 seconds after it has been pulled off, pretty well as the ringer's hands are going up past his face. The other thing is to pick up on the phrase "Devon style". In most of the country bells are rung with an "open handstroke lead", but not in Devon. Just using four bells to keep the example short:

Devon:
1234123412341234

Elsewhere:
12341234-12341234-

Where "-" is a one beat silence.

I'd recommend approaching the Guild of Devonshire Ringers. I've no link to them, but my experience of ringers generally is that they will welcome such enquiries and be happy to supply authoritative detail.