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OS: SO890324
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From Churches |
Tewkesbury Abbey
The Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin is in the west of Tewkesbury on the south side of the A38 (Gloucester Road). The abbey is located in a sizable churchyard with open space to the south bounded by Tirle Brook and a short distance north the River Avon joins the River Severn. There are a couple of car parks close to the Abbey though you may need to be careful when the rivers are in flood.
The route to the ringing room starts with a door on the outside north face. First there are 13 stairs; next a wide anticlockwise stone spiral staircase of 81 steps; then a crosswalk; finally, there is another, narrower, spiral stone staircase consisting of 51 steps. The ringing room is large with a clock mechanism and plenty of seating room for anyone not ringing one of the twelve bells.
2014-01-16 [ expand ]
My first visit was on Thursday 16th January 2014 as the second tower
[1st,
3rd,
4th]
of the 291st Mid-week Outing
of the
Four Shires Guild.
I rarely ring on more than eight bells and while I look forward to ringing on 10 or 12 it is always hard work. We started by ringing up the middle 6
(i.e. bells 3-8) and I rang up the third of this six. I cannot manage any methods on 12 but rang the tenor and #11 for Rounds and Call Changes. I also rang bell #7 for Plain Hunt on 11
. All the bells that I rang were easy to ring but ringing with an an appropriate gap
on the heavy bells was tricky. Practice makes perfect, or at least it helps to improve.
The Bells
The tower has a ring of 12 bells with a tenor weighing 27-0-5 in D. Dove's Guide includes details of the bells at Tewkesbury Abbey. There is some additional information provided by The Gloucester & Bristol Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers.
