Information for the public

These pages are intended to give people who live in York or who visit regularly more information about bellringing at York Minster.

The following information is available on the calendar page:

• Regular ringing times and reasons
• Peals and special ringing

How long has York Minster had bells?

Almost certainly there have been bells in York Minster since its foundation; records of them start in the fourteenth century. The bells have been rung in a way we would recognise today by a team of laymen since the early seventeenth century. More of the history of the bells and bellringers can be found in the section entitled 'The bells'.

Who rings the bells?

The bellringers at York Minster - known since the mid-nineteenth century as "The York Minster Society of Change Ringers" - take pride in a very high standard of ringing, and are privileged to ring on one of the greatest rings of bells ever made. The band of ringers are volunteers from a variety of backgrounds and ages. To find out who they are, click here.

What does bellringing involve?

English change-ringing is a highly skilled activity. The animation on the left shows how bells swing through a complete circle: a good bellringer can balance tons of metal then swing the bell round to cause his or her bell to strike at a given moment with an accuracy of hundredths of a second.

How does change-ringing work?

Bellringing is mathematical: each bell is numbered from the one producing the highest note to the bell producing the lowest note and the bells are rung according to a predetermined pattern which creates different combinations, or "changes". Bellringers have to learn these patterns - called 'methods' - by heart. Good methods produces pleasing sequences of musical changes.

A 'Peal' to a bellringer means a piece of bellringing of at least 5000 changes where no change is repeated. On twelve bells there are 479,001,600 possible changes! At York Minster, 5000 changes represents between 4 and 4½ hours continuous ringing.

Left: the first six changes of a method called Bristol Surprise Maximus which is often rung at York Minster.

Want to know more?

To find out more about the bells and ringers of York Minster, have a look at the other sections of this website.

If you would like to investigate bellringing further, have a look at our links page.

Practice night at the Minster

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