Bell Ringing at Whitchurch, Hants

The first of my videos from the Lilliputters' Day Outing to the Basingstoke area on Saturday, 6th May 2017.
An interesting ground floor ten, Whitchurch were originally a six of mixed vintage, with two 15th Century bells (the present 4th and 6th) in the mix. They were augmented from six to eight in 1919 by Mears with two trebles to form an 11cwt 8. In 1999, the unusual arrangement of adding two tenors to make the ring complete was undertaken by Taylors of Loughborough. The result is a ring of very mixed vintage, which handle well enough and sound surprisingly OK, but are very quiet inside. (The best place to hear these bells is the intermediate chamber, or outside.)
The ringing chamber is quite possibly one of my favourites; the light fittings on the rope guide, and the rope spider in the shape of the guide are both awesome. But the most novel feature is the large wooden staircase up to the bells; built round a single length of oak and at least 500 years old, it is a splendid feature!
Ringing here features rounds, call changes and Grandsire Caters. The other videos will follow in due course. Enjoy!
Tenor 26-1-4 in Dflat
dove.cccbr.org....

[@brianjackson4920]

Just lovely

[@RingerJake]

These are rather a nice, grand set. Briefly rung on ten here in the summer.

[@simonbellringer]

Hmm, wouldn't go as far as grand!.... They're alright, clunky and old fashioned with two boomers at the back! They'd be so much nicer if you could actually hear what you were doing inside!

[@AshleyMonck]

I'm hiding in the cupboard!