Chipping Norton, St Mary the Virgin
The parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Chipping Norton is at the edge of this Cotswold town with countryside views to the North. The parking near the church on Church Street is very limited and I parked in the middle of town beside Market Street.
St Mary's is a big church and the well proportioned tower provides plenty of room to ring the 8 bells. The ringing room is reached by climbing a spiral staircase whose entrance is from inside the tower.
2010-02-20 [ expand ]
I visited for the first time on Saturday 20th February 2010 for the weekly practice of the Four Shires Guild of Bell Ringers. The weather was cold and threatened more snow which may explain why there were only 12 people there, then again closing the road at Moreton in Marsh may have deterred some ringers travelling from the Northwest, I almost turned back myself.
One of my ringing goals for 2010 is to develop enough skill to be able to ring at least one method on 8 bells so this church with a nice, easy to ring, peal of 8 bells provided a golden opportunity. While I rang cover for a number of methods I also got to ring inside. The initial goal I set myself for 2010 was to ring Grandsire Triples and I managed a touch without any mistakes. Striking may have been a bit flaky but I made it through. This was encouraging but not a great milestone as I've been gradually been improving my competence at Grandsire Triples for a couple of months. However, I took the opportunity to try a plain course of Stedman Triples and was rather pleased with myself when I made it through two plain courses on the treble on what was my first ever attempt -- Milestone 1!
I was pretty content with the evening but when the final ring was going to be Plain Bob Major I figured I would give it a go. I can ring Plain Bob Minor and know, in theory, how it extends to Plain Bob Major but as I have already learnt moving from 6 to 8 bells is much harder than might be expected. I made it through a plain course on bell #3, my first ever attempt, again -- Milestone 2! I must admit that I am aware that I did make a mistake but recovered to reach the end.
The Bells
The tower has a ring of 8 bells with a tenor weighing 14-1-4 in F♯. Dove's Guide includes details of the bells at St Mary the Virgin and more information is provided by the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers.