Handbells in Scotland can be traced right back to the time of the Celtic missionaries who came to spread the Christian gospel from the fifth century A.D. onwards. The early Scottish Christian handbells were believed to be magical and were under the care of hereditary guardians known as dewars. There were two types of bells, both quadrangular, one type of sheet iron, the other of cast bronze. The iron bells were made by riveting sheet iron and were originally coated in bronze or perhaps even gold. The bells were given a form of baptism and their perceived magical powers included those of banishing, of healing, of flight and of speech. The bronze bells of Scotland, some dating from the 7th and 8th centuries A.D. still being in existence, can individually play three different notes - two of the faces produce the same note while the others were different from it and each other. They covered a minor third (e.g. the notes A, B, C). The different notes could have accompanied chanting and to indicate moments of special importance in church services. Pitched bells were certainly used in the Middle Ages to accompany singing and illustrations appear on manuscripts of the period.
The Reformation in Scotland in 1560 led to many practices common until then being discontinued - the ringing of bells was not permitted beyond the ringing of one bell at each church for the purpose of summoning the congregation to worship and the practice of accomanying singing by any instrument in a church service ceased. Therefore the development in the 17th century in England of change-ringing, and subsequent development of handbells as we know them today, was initially largely ignored in Scotland. The Presbyterian Church was accepted by the Scottish Parliament in 1690 as the Established Church of Scotland (which is true to this day) while in neighbouring England the Episcopalian Church was the Established Church and ringing was regarded in Presbyterian circles as being Episcopalian. Not until midway through the 19th century did a a more tolerant attitude prevail. Some handbell groups in Scotland can trace their origins to this period over a century ago, such as the St James Ringers of Paisley, formed in 1884, with the same handbells still in use today.
The number of groups in Scotland remained fairly static until the beginning of the 1980s. Dunblane Cathedral Handbell Ringers were formed in 1977, with one of the group's aims in its constitution being to encourage the formation of new handbell groups, which they did on an ad-hoc basis initially, by providing workshops or demonstrations or talks to congregations and groups, and by encouraging groups to come together in small number for performances in Dunblane. This developed to such an extent that by 1984 the first Scottish Handbell Festival was held in Dunblane. This incorporated a regional rally of ringers of the North West Region of the Handbell Ringers of Great Britain and was the first such event to have been held in Scotland - around 200 ringers were at this first event. Three further such events were held in Dunblane (in 1987, 1991 and 1995) and one in Kirkcudbright (in 1992) - hosted by a large community group which use Britain's only Maas-Rowe handbell set (as well as Malmark handbells). These events combined rally ringing (where each individual group in turn performs from their own repertoire to all the other ringers), massed ringing (with all groups playing together some pre-prepared music), and workshop sessions or read-and-ring sessions to try out new music under different directors.
A large network of ringing groups was now in place and Dunblane Cathedral Handbell Ringers acted as co-ordinator to disseminate information about the handbell events going on in Scotland to other groups in Scotland - this included information on the many visiting groups from the USA, Australia, Canada, England, Germany and Sweden that have visited Scotland to perform over the years.
To further encourage the formation of more groups particularly in churches in Scotland (of all denominations), the Dunblane Cathedral Handbell Ringers also began organising and running Ring in Praise Handbell Seminars for Church Musicians at Dunblane Cathedral every year from 1989. This annual national event, quite unique in Britain, has directly led to the formation of many, many groups throughout the country. It caters exclusively for church groups and, as well as the talents of British directors, has had some distinguished guest lecturers and workshop leaders from overseas, including Kay Cook of Handbell Exploration, Arizona, Robert Ivey, past president of the American Guild from North Carolina, Melanie Bankston of Strikepoint of Texas, Michael Bryant of Atlanta, Alison Wood, past president of the Alberta Guild in Canada, and Daniel Waits of Georgia. Each event features workshop sessions on using handbells in worship services in many different ways, read-and-ring sessions of new music for church use (whether choral or organ or hymn accompaniments, but all with handbells), lectures on the place of handbells in church, demonstrations by handbell groups with organ and choir, and displays.
With all of this activity the number of groups using handbells, handchimes or belleplates mushroomed to such an extent that it became a necessity to form a regional association of the Handbell Ringers of Great Britain to cover the geographic area of Scotland in order to more fully serve the ringers in Scotland (Scotland having until then being included with the north of England, Northern Ireland and Wales in making the North West Region). The Scottish Regional Association took effect from the 1st January 1996 with the first Scottish Regional Ringers' Rally being held in Aberdeen (hosted by Greyfriars Chimes, a very active church group under the direction of Elaine Duffus), and subsequent rallies being held every 6 months (in Jordanhill, Glasgow hosted by the church group there under the direction of Ruth Cantlay, in Kirkcudbright again, in Linlithgow hosted by a community group under the direction of Cherie Finlay, and most recently in Tayinloan hosted by the Island of Gigha Ringers under the direction of Dot Wilkieson) with ringer workshops held occasionally in addition.
There are now handbell, handchime or belleplate groups to be found the length and breadth of Scotland in churches, schools, uniformed and non-uniformed organisations, or serving individual communities or indeed being the pleasure of individual families. The instruments in use range from the very old handbell sets from various now defunct founders from last century to the handbells of Whitechapel, Taylors, Malmark, Schulmerich and Maas-Rowe, as well as the various makes of handchimes and belleplates.
Written By:
Malcolm C Wilson
claganach@easynet.co.uk
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~claganach/index.html
Director of the handbell programme at Dunblane Cathedral in central Scotland
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~claganach/dchr1.html
Chairman of the Scottish Regional Association of the Handbell Ringers of Great Britain
http://members.xoom.com/claganach/HRGBScotReg.htm
Senior Teacher at Shieldhill Primary School, Falkirk, in central Scotland
http://www.freeyellow.com/members3/shieldhillps/index.html
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