The bells of Leigh-on-Sea, 2016
It was windy and in Elm Road, from the London Road end, you could hear the bells of St Clement’s church on the breeze. This recording is in three parts.
Firstly, from just before Queens Avenue, a short clip. I had to try and get out of the wind and didn’t know how long the ringing would go on for. You hear swifts, you should be able to hear the bells pealing, about a third of a mile distant, and passing traffic. If I’d have managed to start the recording a few minutes earlier you would have got domestic chickens.
Up Elm Road, across The Broadway and into Church Hill for the second part (from 00:35). I thought it was ringing practice but there was actually something on, as people were arriving and the mayoral car was parked outside.
The third clip, back down Elm Road (from 03:45). The ringing had ended but there was a final tolling. Recorded from opposite the Sarah Moore pub, you can hear traffic, the bell, and a couple of girls talking on the other side of the street.
The bells were ringing for The First Mass of Mtr Cherry Sandover – Votive of the Holy Spirit, which started at 7.30pm.
Drawing of St Clement’s Church by AB Bamford (I/Ba 43/1).
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Thank you for your knowledgeable insight! Are you a ringer at St Clement’s?
This is the back six of the eight bells ringing rounds and call changes. The third clip is not the bell tolling, but the three and the seven being rung down (out of the ringing position). The three is then chimed during the Mass, at the Prayer of Consecration. The seventh bell is also the clock bell that strikes the hours. During ringing the chiming hammer for the clock is turned off.
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