Those merry, tinkling, tuneful bells: handbells in Victorian Grahamstown with a note on bell ringing at Grahamstown Cathedral

Abstract

[From the introduction]: The idea of using sets of small bells tuned to particular notes in order to produce music is very old. There are illustrations of slung bells being played in this way from the 11th and 12th centuries. Bell ringers in England date the sue of sets of tuned and hand-held bells from as early as the 16th century though it seems that the modern handbell may have come into existence in the early 18th century. Such bells were used by tower bell ringers as convenient practice devices for change ringing. The ringing of tunes on handbells became popular in the 18th century and reached its heyday in the latter half of the 19th century. In England tune ringing was especially popular in the north and major competitions had their centre at Manchester. Special trains were run to competitions there and bands, ringing up to 200 bells, could find their skills tested on extracts from Mozart's Don Giovanni. World War I and the spread of alternative media of entertainment like radio put an end to ringing on this scale.