Plain Bob at Christ Church Cathedral

Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, is set to resound this New Year’s Day with the bells of Christ Church Cathedral. The Cathedral ringers, called the St. Dunstan’s Guild, will set the nine steeple bells ringing in the ‘Plain Bob’ method.
 

A brief history of the bells at Christ Church

The Cathedral’s bells have hung within the belfry since the late 19th century. The first four, cast by the Meneely bell foundry of West Troy, New York, were hoisted into the tower in May of 1860. Each is inscribed with the name of a member of the parish who provided funds for the casting: Harriet Stewart, Winston Noble, William H. Morrison, and R.S. and A.W. McOuat. In September of that year, four more bells took their place in the tower, completing the octave. Thirty years later in 1890, the ninth and final bell joined the others.

The bells were first installed for chiming, with a single bell ringer commanding the clavier, or keyboard, from below. In this manner, the bells could send simple tunes and melodies wafting over the rooftops. 

In November 1864, the Indianapolis Daily Journal reported: “The chime bells of Christ Church, after a long silence, while some work was being done on the steeple, awoke again the solemn stillness of the Sabbath yesterday, and the sweet anthem of praise rose upon the balmy air and floated quietly away, cheering the good, strengthening the weak, and softening the hearts of the wicked, till its reverberations died away in the distance.”

A year later, the bells tolled as President Abraham Lincoln’s body was taken to the state Capitol as part of the funeral cortege to his final resting place in Illinois.

The Indianapolis Daily Journal, again capturing the spirit of the bells in prose, had this to say of bell ringing in the New Year: “The chimes of Christ Church tolled in solemn cadences, as old 1866 shivered in the midnight air of Monday… A merrier peal greeted the infant 1867, as he shook his curls into the face of the departing old man.”

The clavier has long since been removed and the bells refitted to accommodate change ringing. Rather than swinging 360 degrees, as most peal bells do, the Cathedral’s bells remain stationary as they were when first installed. Bell ringers, standing in a circle one room below the belfry, pull ropes to command each of the bells’ clappers.
 

Bell ringing on New Year's Day

Hear the bells this New Year’s Day as part of the annual National Bell Festival. Anywhere on Monument Circle will be a wonderful place to listen to the tintinnabulation. We recommend bundling up and finding a cozy perch on one of the marble steps, or spreading a blanket on a patch of green for a tasty picnic (and cup of warm cocoa!) as the bells ring out from above.