Hugh Town, St Mary the Virgin
The parish church of St Mary the Virgin, Hugh Town is the only church on the Isles of Scilly that has bells hung for full circle ringing. The church is at the east end of Church Street where it meets Church Road and shouldn't be confused with the St Mary's Old Church which is only ½mile away in Old Town.
While the new church was built in the 19th Century it doesn't have much outside space and the cemetary around the old church is still the one used for burials. The ringing room is reached by climbing a steep wooden staircase up through a trapdoor. The ringing room is not very big but provides plenty of space to ring the 8 bells with seating space for a few additional people.
2012-08-08 [ expand ]
I visited for the first time on Wednesday 8th August 2012 while on holiday with my wife.
I started by ringing up bell #6 and over the evening rang all the bells from #3 to the Tenor. I was relieved that they ring methods and that Call Changes were in the manner I am familiar with. We rang Rounds and Call Changes with a number of their young learners as well as Plain Bob, Grandsire Doubles and Triples. These are a new ring of bells that were only dedicated in 2009 so it is not surprising that they are very easy to ring and go nicely. A very pleasant evening though I had to decline the invitation to join them for a drink after the practice as we had already made a reservation for dinner.
The Bells
The tower has a ring of 8 bells with a tenor weighing 8-3-7 in A. Dove's Guide includes details of the bells at St Mary the Virgin and more information is provided by the Truro Diocesan Guild of Ringers and yet more information at Scilly Bells.
Bell | Inscription | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Dove's Guide to the bells at St Mary the Virgin |
Mary | ||
2 | Ann | |||
3 | Henry | |||
4 | Valerie | |||
5 | John | |||
6 | Brian-Anne | |||
7 | Edward | |||
Tenor | Diana |