Saint Stephen's Bell Ringers

The People

Although there are no records surviving, it is believed that there have been bells in the tower of Saint Stephen’s since 1470 and, therefore, it is reasonable to suppose that there have also been bell ringers since that time as well.

The current band of ringers at Saint Stephens numbers around 20 people and they meet weekly on Monday evenings from 7:30pm until 9:00pm to practise (apart from the 2nd Monday of each month when they ring at the same time on Tuesday). They occasionally have visiting bands of ringers over weekends. Sometimes this consists of up to a three hour long peal.

Our ringers welcome people of all ages and ability. If you are interested in learning to ring or require any other information please contact the ringers’ secretary on bristolcityringing@gmail.com.

The Bells

The tower of Saint Stephens pre-dates the current church and was built in 1470 by John Shipward. This tower almost certainly had bells in it and in fact one such bell survives to this day. This bell, known as the St Peters Bell, was cast around 1400 and as such is too fragile for regular ringing. The current ring of bells were first installed as a ring of eight bells. These were cast by Abel Rudhall of Gloucester in 1759. Seven of the original 8 survive to this day with augmentation and recasting over the past 250 years providing us with a fine ring of 12 bells. The front 5 being cast in 1970 by John Taylor of Loughborough. In 2005, John Taylors also cast a 13th bell in memory of Patrick Bird a beloved and long standing ringing master of Saint Stephens. This bell is tuned a semitone sharper than the second bell and produces an octave on the lightest 8 bells, enabling these to be rung independently of the back bells.