Bellringing at St Alfege Church
Ringing has taken place at St. Alfege Church since 1552 - there is a record of 4 bells being rung in the medieval tower, and bells will have been rung here even earlier than that. We currently have a wonderful ring of 10 bells, the largest bell dating from 1824. The bells are in a solid wooden frame that dates from 1731.
The purpose of ringing is primarily to ring for church services and call people to worship but we also ring for a variety of other occasions. We would like to expand the number of ringers in our team, and we especially need to plan for the future when some of us will no longer be around to ring these bells.
The Meridian Ringers ring at three churches: St Alfege in Greenwich; St Mary in Woolwich and St John in Deptford. Each church has a ring of bells for full circle ringing.
St Alfege, Greenwich has a ring of 10 bells - the tenor weighs 23-2-14 and the key is D.
St Mary, Woolwich has a ring of 8 bells - the tenor weighs 12-3-6 and the key is F#.
St John, Deptford has a ring of 8 bells - the tenor weighs 14-0-18 and the key is F.
Beginners are warmly welcomed. Bellringing practice takes place every Wednesday evening at St Alfege from 8pm to 9.30pm. Please email Graham Long or telephone 07757 708735 to find out more about becoming a bell ringer or to give it a try.Come to the tower door – West entrance (back of St Alfege Church) at 7.45pm,
Other times and training sessions can also be arranged.
Bell ringing is:
For anyone - young people (10 years +) and adults of all ages – individuals, couples, families and friends. You don’t need to be musical, mathematical or strong.
To support the local church and the community.
Enjoyable and satisfying – gentle physical exercise with mental stimulation – burns calories, tones muscles and relieves stress. It requires good teamwork and coordination.
An easy way to make friends – as well as ringing there are also many social activities and opportunities to ring at other towers and ring with other ringing teams. An activity to learn a centuries-old skill.
The bells of St Alfege Church
St Alfege Church has a peal of 10 bells which are rung for some Sunday services and for weddings and other special events and occasions.
Whitechapel Bell Foundry records show that there were four bells in the tower of St Alfege in 1552, the tenor (the largest) having a diameter of 43" and weighing about 13 hundredweight. There is little further information about the bells until the church was rebuilt (between 1712 and 1714).
The tower now contains a ring of 10 bells hung in a heavily-constructed oak frame that dates from 1731. Eight bells were originally cast by Richard Phelps in 1731 and two more in 1734. The original 4th bell bore an inscription
The Gift of our gracious Queen Caroline, 1731, R Phelps fecit
The new tenor bell weighed 23 hundredweight and was in the key of D. In 1954 the Whitechapel Foundry was due to clean, tune and rehang all the bells. However, after cleaning, six of the bells were found to be cracked, and it was decided to recast all the bells except for the tenor which had been recast more recently, in 1824, by Thomas Mears II.
Ringing for the Coronation Service of King Charles III
At St Alfege Church the Ringers rang Rounds and Call Changes, Touches of Doubles and possibly Plain Hunt on seven bells to mark the Coronation. The bells were also Fired - this is a special tradition for special celebrations and weddings when the ringers all pull their ropes at the same time so that the bells are struck together to make a resounding crash.