Let all the bells of London sing

2021-02-01T02:08:30Z

Smeeds:

'''Let all the bells of London sing''' is a poem by Nick Sorensen. Nick is a writer and musician who lives in Somerset. He is a Visiting Research Fellow at Bath Spa University and a member of the Governance Group for Paper Nations<ref>[https://andotherpoems.com/2021/01/07/let-all-the-bells-of-london-sing-by-nick-sorensen/ 'Let all the bells of London sing!' by Nick Sorensen] - And Other Poems</ref>. Folk singer Anne Gregson<ref>[https://concertina.info/wordpress4/ Anne Gregson]</ref> has set the poem to a tune based on [[Row|Queens]].

<pre>
Let all the bells of London sing!
St Clements, Stepney, Aldgate, Bow
Across blue skies your chimes take wing
From shade-filled churches far below

St Clements, Stepney, Aldgate, Bow
Shoreditch peals in chorus calling
From shade-filled churches far below
Treble down to tenor falling

Shoreditch peals in chorus calling
Clapper tongues in towers aspiring
Treble down to tenor falling
Ring full circle Plain Bob Minor

Clapper tongues in towers aspiring
"When will you pay me?" "When I'm old"
Ring full circle Plain Bob Minor
Wake Highgate's drowsing ghostly hoard

"When will you pay me?" "When I'm old"
Across blue skies your chimes take wing
Wake Highgate's drowsing ghostly hoard
Let all the bells of London sing!
</pre>

==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Ringing Poems]]
[[Category:Ringing Songs]]

Let all the bells of London sing

2021-02-01T02:01:43Z

Smeeds: First Version

'''Let all the bells of London sing''' is a poem by Nick Sorensen. Nick is a writer and musician who lives in Somerset. He is a Visiting Research Fellow at Bath Spa University and a member of the Governance Group for Paper Nations<ref>[https://andotherpoems.com/2021/01/07/let-all-the-bells-of-london-sing-by-nick-sorensen/ 'Let all the bells of London sing!' by Nick Sorensen] - And Other Poems</ref>. Folk singer Anne Gregson<ref>[https://concertina.info/wordpress4/ Anne Gregson]</ref> has set the poem to a tune based on [[Row|Queens]].

<pre>
Let all the bells of London sing!
St Clements, Stepney, Aldgate, Bow
Across blue skies your chimes take wing
From shade-filled churches far below

St Clements, Stepney, Aldgate, Bow
Shoreditch peals in chorus calling
From shade-filled churches far below
Treble down to tenor falling

Shoreditch peals in chorus calling
Clapper tongues in towers aspiring
Treble down to tenor falling
Ring full circle Plain Bob Minor

Clapper tongues in towers aspiring
"When will you pay me?" "When I'm old"
Ring full circle Plain Bob Minor
Wake Highgate's drowsing ghostly hoard

"When will you pay me?" "When I'm old"
Across blue skies your chimes take wing
Wake Highgate's drowsing ghostly hoard
Let all the bells of London sing!
</pre>

==References==
[[Category:Ringing Poems]]
[[Category:Ringing Songs]]

Wrestling and Ringing

2020-03-26T14:41:37Z

Smeeds: Smeeds moved page Wrestling and ringing to Wrestling and Ringing

'''Wrestling and ringing''' (Roud 22825<ref>[https://www.vwml.org/roudnumber/22825 Vaughan Williams Memorial Library - Roud 22825</ref>) was collected by [[Wikipedia:Sabine Baring-Gould|Sabine Baring-Gould]] from the singing of John Dingle<ref>[https://cecilsharpspeople.org.uk/dingle-john.html John Dingle - </ref> at [[Wikipedia:Coryton, Devon|Coryton]] 2 March 1894. Dingle described the song as having come from [[Wikipedia:Broadwoodwidger|Broadwoodwidger]] but he only remembered one verse. Scraps of the same song were remembered by Sam Frome on 24 August 1894. Baring-Gould sent a copy of the song to [[Wikipedia:Lucy Broadwood|Lucy Broadwood]]. [[Wikipedia:Cecil Sharp|Cecil Sharp]] noted the tune from John Dingle while he was staying with Baring-Gould at [[Wikipedia:Lewtrenchard|Lewtrenchard]]<ref>[https://www.vwml.org/search?q=CJS1/12/2/1/6&collectionfilter=GB;CJS2;CJS1;COL;JHB;AGG;SBG;HAM;GG;MK;FK;CC;RVW1;RVW2;LEB;HHA;TFO;AW;EML;FSBW;RoudBib;SharpDiary1915;SharpDiary1916;SharpDiary1917;SharpDiary1918;Place;PG;Pers;DCD;MN;KS;JMC;VWMLNarrativeIndex;VWMLMisc;LSL;CYL&is=1 Letter from Sabine Baring Gould to Cecil Sharp (18 July 1904) re a singer called (John) Dingle whom Baring Gould was going to introduce to Sharp - Vaughan Williams Memorial Library]</ref>.

Lyrics:
You ringing men I pray attend and p'raps you may remember
Oh! proud was he that chanced to be on the nineteenth of September
Oh! ringing for as famous prize which was a golden guinea
And more than that, a gold laced hat, of ringers there were many

==References==
<references/>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrestling and Ringing}}
[[Category:Ringing Songs]]

Wrestling and ringing

2020-03-26T14:41:37Z

Smeeds: Smeeds moved page Wrestling and ringing to Wrestling and Ringing

#REDIRECT [[Wrestling and Ringing]]

Wrestling and Ringing

2020-03-26T14:40:32Z

Smeeds: First Version

Cherington Bells

2020-03-26T14:37:30Z

Smeeds:

'''Cherington Bells''' tells the story described in Church-lore Gleanings<ref name="gleanings">[https://archive.org/stream/churchloregleani00dyerrich?ref=ol#page/79/mode/2up/search/Cherington Church-lore Gleanings] - T. F. Thistleton Dyer, London: A. D. Innes & Co. (1892), p. 79 - 80</ref>.

<blockquote>... from about 1830 when the treble bell at [[Wikipedia:Cherington, Gloucestershire|Cherington, Gloucestershire]], was stolen and set up in [[Wikipedia:Church of the Holy Cross, Avening|Avening Tower]] to make a ring of six. The culprits were discovered, convicted, and punished. A vulgar error prevailed in the locality that if a bell could be taken and put up without the offender being caught in the act, there was no redress. The following song used to be sung in the village in memory of this event</blockquote>

Lyrics<ref name="gleanings" />:
Those Cherington bells, those Cherington Bells,
What a sad tale their jingling tells !
Alas ! their now imperfect chime
Proclaims our folly and our crime.

Our hours of sport have passed away,
Our hearts now droop that once were gay,
For we are confined in these dreary cells,
For taking one of the Cherington bells.

Little was it supposed by us,
The matter would have ended thus,
And doubtless all would have been well
Had we restored the furtive bell.

But we, alas ! fools as we were,
Carried the silly joke too far ;
And this famed bell, tradition says,
Belonged to us in former days.

And was purloined from Avening Tower
A century ago or more,
And thence convey'd to Cotswold Hills,
And placed among the Cherington bells,

This absurd story we believed,
But we're egregiously deceived,
For its inscription plainly tells
'Twas always one of the Cherington bells.

Sorry we are for what we've done,
We're paying dearly for our fun ;
Oh, that we were out of the cells,
We'd ne'er again take Cherington bells.

== Martin Graebe ==

In 2008 Martin Graebe<ref>[http://www.martinandshan.net/martins-songbook Martin's Songbook] - Martin and Shan Graebe's website</ref> edited the original words and set them to music.

Lyrics<ref>[https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/logs.omnibuilder/1b64b57b-bd94-461b-8a49-b92ceda9a22e/34f7fcfd-fd75-42cb-9e45-e9f6e57a9cb5.pdf Cherington Bells]</ref>:
Our hours of sport are passed away,
Our hearts now droop, that once were gay,
For we are confined in these dreary cells,
For taking one of the Cherington bells.
Little was it supposed by us
The matter would have ended thus,
And doubtless all would have been well
Had we restored the fugitive bell.

Chorus:
Cherington bells, those Cherington bells,
What a sad story their jingling tells!
Alas! their now imperfect chime
Proclaims our folly, and our crime.

But we alas! fools as we were,
Carried the silly joke too far;
As this famed bell, tradition says,
Belonged to us in former days.
And was purloined from Avening Tower
A century ago or more,
And thence conveyed to Cotswold hills
And placed among the Cherington bells.

This foolish story we believed,
But we were egregiously deceived,
For its inscription plainly tells
'Twas always one of the Cherington bells.
Now sorry we are for what we've done,
We're paying dearly for our fun :
Oh! that we were out of the cells
We'd ne'er again touch Cherington bells.

==External links==

*[https://soundcloud.com/user-521437180/cherington-bells Cherington Bells - Martin and Shan Graebe] - SoundCloud

==References==
<references/>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cherington Bells}}
[[Category:Ringing Songs]]

Smeeds: Added {{DEFAULTSORT:Belfry Praise (hymn tune)}}

Hymns Ancient & Modern, 496
[[Image:Belfry Praise.png]]

Tune: John H Matthews

Unchanging God, who livest

Enthroned in realms on high,

To men the power thou givest

Thy name to magnify.

We raise the bells for ringing

With ready mind and will,

And come before thee, bringing

Our hearts, our strength, our skill.

We call, from tower and steeple,

Upon the day of days,

All faithful Christian people

To worship, prayer and praise;

We ring with joyous gladness

When man and wife are blessed;

We peal in muffled sadness

For loved ones laid to rest.

By union free and willing

The work of God is done;

Our Master’s prayer fulfilling,

We would in him be one:

One, as the Church our Mother

Would have her children stand,

Befriending one another,

A strong and steadfast band.

Our lives, like bells, while changing,

An ordered course pursue;

Through joys and sorrows ranging,

May all those lives ring true.

May we, through Christ forgiven,

Our faults and failures past,

Attain our place in heaven,

Called home to rest at last.

Henry Charles Wilder, 1904

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belfry Praise (hymn tune)}}
[[Category:Ringing Songs]]

2016-08-24T12:46:10Z

Smeeds: First Version

'''I Saw Three Ships (Come Sailing In)''' is a traditional and popular Christmas carol from England. The earliest printed version of "I Saw Three Ships" is from the 17th century, possibly Derbyshire, and was also published by [[Wikipedia:William Sandys (antiquarian)|William Sandys]] in 1833.<ref>Cecil James Sharp (2008) [https://books.google.com/books?id=3wk3HTOrvmYC&pg=PA9&dq=three+ships+-+variant+of+Greensleeves&hl=en&ei=k0MGTfGFOpGP4Aa51dy5Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false The Morris Book: With a Description of Dances as Performed by the Morris Men]</ref><ref name=HYM/>

The lyrics mention the ships sailing into Bethlehem, but the nearest body of water is the Dead Sea about 20 miles away. The reference to three ships is thought to originate in the three ships that bore the purported relics of the Biblical magi to Cologne Cathedral in the 12th century.<ref name=HYM>[http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/i_saw_three_ships.htm Website describing the carol and giving secondary references]</ref> Another possible reference is to [[Wikipedia:Wenceslaus II of Bohemia|Wenceslaus II, King of Bohemia]], who bore a coat of arms "Azure three galleys argent".<ref>Camden Roll, dated c.1280, entry 11 and Heralds' Roll, dated c.1280 entry 18.</ref>

A variant of the song adds a further first verse: "As I Sat on a Sunny Bank". The subsequent verses are similar in both versions.

Lyrics<ref name="I Saw Three Ships - lyrics">[https://mainlynorfolk.info/steeleye.span/songs/isawthreeships.html Mainly Norfolk - I Saw Three Ships]</ref>:
I saw three ships come sailing in
''On Christmas day, on Christmas day''
I saw three ships come sailing in
''On Christmas day in the morning''

And what was in those ships all three?

Our Saviour Christ and his lady.

Wither sailed those ships all three?

O they sailed into Bethlehem.

And all the bells on earth shall ring.

And angels in all heaven shall sing.

And all the souls on earth shall sing.

Then let us all rejoice amain!

==External links==

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pIesWJt6lk Orla Fallon singing I Saw Three Ships]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLm5IrJvFCM Elly Ameling singing As I Sat on a Sunny Bank]

==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Ringing Songs]]