From the announcement of her death until the late Queen’s funeral our bells were rung half-muffled. Muffles are leather pads (see picture) fitted to a bell’s clapper (see picture) to reduce the volume. They attenuate the bell’s strike note whilst retaining the hum. By only muffling the clapper on one side (half muffled) you get an ‘echo’ effect as blows are alternately loud and soft. In Rounds it’s like a normal descending scale followed by an eerie echo of that sound. Some churches ring full muffled, where two muffles are fitted, one on each side of the clapper, but if we did that at St Mary’s you’d hardly hear the bells. Muffling involves David Harding getting in amongst the bells to secure each of the six clappers. For safety reasons, muffles are always fitted and removed with the bells down – i.e. can’t be rung.
Our bells were rung at noon on the day of announcement of the Queen’s death. They remained half-muffled until the day that the Palace proclaimed the new Monarch, Charles III. At that point the muffles were taken off in celebration of the accession.
We then reverted to ringing half-muffled until the day of the state funeral. On the day of the funeral, we rang for half-an-hour prior to the time of the Funeral Service. The picture records those involved.
If you’d like to join our merry band of ringers, then do get in contact with David or Becca Harding direct or by using the contact form.