On Sundays and feast days and in times of celebration and mourning bells ring out from Hampshire’s churches, abbeys and cathedrals to mark the occasion. It’s a practice that has continued since Saxon times, but where are the county’s oldest church bells which once rang to sound the curfew, or to remind households to cover their fires overnight? And where were they made?
Phil Watts, Bells Advisor for the Winchester diocese reveals all to Cathy Booth in this fascinating heritage podcast as he tells the stories of Hampshire’s extraordinary bells and shares how has bell ringing changed over the centuries.
Cathy Booth
Cathy Booth is the host of the Fun with Bells podcast, which she set up to support her husband who rings church bells in the English change ringing style. With a background in technology and interviewing, Cathy enjoys learning about different aspects of this fascinating hobby. Cathy also helped to set up the Hampshire HistBites podcast.
Phil Watts
An active Church Bell Ringer since 1970, Phil Watts has been involved in the care, maintenance and restoration of church bells for almost fifty years. He is presently Bells Advisor to the Winchester Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches. A retired Chartered Land Surveyor, Phil has also served as a Churchwarden and in other roles in his local parish church.
Further Information and Additional Links
Visit the Winchester Cathedral website for more information about the Winchester Cathedral bells and to book a Tower tour, where you can view the bells at close range.
If you are interested in bells or want to hear more from Cathy, she has a podcast called Fun With Bells, which we recommend you listen to.
A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier is set in Winchester and provides an interesting insight into bell-ringing here in the 1920s.