The History of Bells

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The History of Bells and Their Introduction to Winchester

The first bells were cast in China 4,000 years ago, and the first Christian churches to have bells were in Italy around 500AD where the Benedictine monks in the Campana region learnt how to cast them. They were shaped quite differently from those we use today. The picture (left) is of an 8th century bell in Rome.

When the Benedictines established their priory here in Winchester they brought these skills with them, and there is evidence of bells being rung both in the Old and New Minsters in the 10th Century at the same time!

These would have been transferred into the Norman Cathedral tower in 1093, but in 1107 it collapsed so they were probably destroyed. Excavations on the north side of the cathedral provide evidence of later bell-casting pits and it is likely that these were replaced in the rebuilt tower using new designs such as the ‘sugar loaf’ (left) and the now familiar shape (right).

Bells were either hung ‘dead’ and struck with a hammer using a rope and lever, or suspended on a ‘headstock’ and swung from side to side. In the 12th Century it needed 53 men to ring Canterbury Cathedral’s peal of just five large bells. They probably swung them like this and it must have been very dangerous!