This recent painting of Winchester Cathedral’s ringing chamber shows the brightly coloured ropes with which the bells are rung.

Most of the rope is quite slender and is made up of three major strands intertwined for strength, but there is a thicker section of coloured wool tufting, called the ‘sally’, which is where the ringers’ catch this section of the rope at the ‘handstroke’ pull.

The diagram shows this more clearly. Ropes are now made using a mixture of natural and synthetic fibres which give extra strength, but they can still chafe at vulnerable points and require regular maintenance.

The Cathedral’s records show that three hundred years ago, ropes were a major expense and had to be replaced frequently to keep the bells ringing,
e.g. ‘2 April 1674 – for four new bellropes weighing 44lbs at 7d. per lb - £1.5s.8d’.