11 Facts About Change ringing

Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a tightly controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive striking sequences, known as "changes".

Change ringing originated following the invention of English full-circle tower bell ringing in the early 17th century, when bell ringers found that swinging a bell through a much larger arc than that required for swing-chiming gave control over the time between successive strikes of the clapper.

Change ringing is practised worldwide, but it is by far most common on church bells in English churches, where it first developed.

Change ringing is performed on handbells, where conventionally each ringer holds two bells, and chimed on carillons and chimes of bells, though these are more commonly used to play conventional melodies.

Method ringing is the continuously changing form of change ringing, and gets its name from the use of a particular method to generate the changes.

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Such Change ringing starts and ends with rounds, having meanwhile visited only a subset of the available permutations; but truth is still considered essential — no row can ever be repeated; to do so would make the Change ringing false.

Change ringing can be performed on handbells, and is quite popular in its own right.

Today change ringing is, particularly in England, a popular and commonplace sound, often issuing from a church tower before or after a service or wedding.

Much Change ringing is carried out by bands of ringers meeting at their local tower to ring its bells.

Methods of change ringing are named for the number of working bells, or the bells that switch order within the change.

In 2016 readers of The Ringing World magazine wrote to insist that bell Change ringing was "an art and a sport", as demonstrated by regular "striking competitions".