The Bellringers of Morwenstow

Bellringers meet to practise pealing the bells at the Church of Morwenna and St John the Baptist in Morwenstow, the most northerly parish in Cornwall, home of Reverend Robert Stephen Hawker (1803-1875) originator of the Harvest Festival service. A ring or peal of bells hung in the round or English style can include between three and sixteen bells although usually it's six or eight. Morwenstow is an eight bell tower. Bells are set to a diatonic scale in music.

The bell loft houses the bells and the ringers usually perform clockwise. The bells are numbered downwards progressing from the treble to the 2, the 3 and so forth to the heaviest and deepest-sounding bell, the tenor. A lead bellringer calls and the ringers follow a pattern called a method to sound out change ringing, where the bells change the order in which they strike each time. Normal or peal ringing refers to the ringing of bells reflecting the traditional ding-dong sound, chiming a bell refers to a single ring and marks the naming of a person and tolling the bell is ringing the bell once repetitively to announce a person's death also known as the death knell. The soft wool grip around the rope is known as a sally.