Ring of bells

A "Ring of bells" (or "peal of bells") is a set of bells hung in the English style, typically for change ringing. Often hung in a church tower, such a set can include from three to sixteen bells (six- and eight-bell towers are particularly common), usually tuned to the notes of a diatonic scale (without intervening chromatic notes).

The distinctive feature of these English-style rings is that they are hung for full-circle ringing: each bell is suspended from a wooden or metal headstock, which in turn is connected to the bellframe by bearings, allowing the bell to swing freely through just over 360 degrees; the headstock is fitted with a wooden wheel around which a rope is wrapped.

Each time it sounds, a bell's motion begins in the "upside-down" position, with the mouth upwards. As the ringer pulls the rope the bell swings down and then back up again on the other side, describing slightly more than a 360-degree circle. During the swing, the clapper inside the bell will have struck the soundbow, making the bell resonate once. Each pull reverses the direction of the bell's motion; as the bell swings back and forth, the strokes are called "handstroke" and "backstroke" by turns. After the handstroke a portion of the bell-rope is wrapped around almost the entirety of the wheel and the ringer's arms are above his or her head holding the rope's tail end; after the backstroke most of the rope is again free and the ringer is comfortably gripping the rope some way up, usually along a soft woolen thickening called a sally.