The Church Bell is an unusual and rare symbol to be found in a cemetery or churchyard. So far I have found two examples but I feel sure that there are others out there. This post was inspired by the three bells that I saw on a Mr Judd’s headstone in St Michael’s churchyard, Betchworth, Surrey. It must be an ex-bellringer I thought and sure enough the epitaph stated that Mr Judd was:

‘ for 36 years Captain of the Bellringers at this Church.’

The central bell on the three appeared to be ringing but was it a specific peal?  A secret message to other bellringers?

The second one was in Beckenham Cemetery and was dedicated to Henry Robert Taylor but with no further information on it.  This time all three bells appeared to be static.

So I contacted The Central Council of Church Bellringers (yes it does exist) to find out if they could shed light on the bells.  Firstly, they were very interested in my photos as these are rare memorials and they didn’t know that they existed.  One of their members, a retired Captain of Bellringers and historian,  was kind enough to reply and said  that the Taylor headstone was probably the grave of a bellringer which was close to the door of the bell ringing chamber. He added that the bells depicted were inaccurate for English church bell ringing and thought that it might be a standard pattern designed to fit a pointed headstone.

However, with the Judd headstone in Betchworth he thought that the bells were a much better representation of a church bell hung for ‘change ringing’. Change ringing is an English form of bell ringing and if you want to know more there is a link in the references and further reading section.

I then approached the churchwarden at St Michael’s who informed me that the Judd tombstone was originally dedicated to Clara Judd  but eventually William Henry (Bill) was added to the inscription.  He also confirmed that Bill is buried close to the door of  the church’s bell-tower. In 1910, Canon Sanders paid tribute to his astonishing 36 years as Captain of the Bellringers by saying that

‘…the whole parish owes a debt of gratitude.’ 

And here he is:

These two headstones and the bellringing references reminded me of the links between church bells, the rituals of the church and death.  The most obvious one is ringing the ‘death toll.’ which appears in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 71:

‘No longer mourn for me when I am dead,

Than you should hear the surly, sullen bell,

Give warning to the world that I am fed

From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell.’

There is also the often quoted final lines from John Donne’s 1624 Meditation 17, from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions:

‘Therefore, send not to know

For whom the bell tolls,I

It tolls for thee’.

Although only the ‘death toll’ is used today, originally there were three tolls that were rung and they denoted different stages of death.  I am indebted to the headstonesymbols.co.uk blog for this:

‘There was superstition that evil spirits would gather around a dying person, trying to catch the departing soul. To give the soul a chance of ascending to heaven, church bells were rung at the time of death to frighten away these demonic forces. It was even added to the rules of the early Church of England that:

…when any is passing out of this Life, a Bell shall be Tolled, and the Minister shall not then slack to do his last Duty. And after the Parties Death (if it so fall out) there shall be rung no more than one short Peal, and one other before the Burial, and one other after the Burial.

Church of England Canon law; 1604

The Passing Bell

The first ringing to indicate an impending death was called the “Passing Bell“. This was to alert the priest that he was needed to perform the Last Rights.

The Death Knell

A “Death Knell” was rung immediately after the death. This was a slow solemn peal and each strike or teller identified the sex and age of the deceased. In small communities they would know from this who had passed and who’s souls to pray for.

From the number of strokes being formerly regulated according to circumstances, the hearers might determine the sex and social condition of the dying or dead person. Thus the bell was tolled twice for a woman and thrice for a man. If for a clergyman, as many times as he had orders, and, at the conclusion, a peal on all the bells to distinguish the quality of the person for whom the people are to put up their prayers. In the North of England, are yet rung nine knells for a man, six for a woman, and three for a child.

Old Church Lore by William Andrews

Lych or Corpse Bell

The last bell, the Lych or Corpse bell would be rang at the funeral, and is the only one that survives today.’

 The Funeral Toll was also rung as the procession approached the church and was known as ‘ringing home the dead’.

The Dead Bell

However, in Scotland and parts of Northern England, a hand bell was rung which was known as the dead bell.  This was used with deaths and funerals until the 19^th century.  The dead bells were rung for two  reasons; to protect the newly deceased from evil spirits and to also seek prayers for the dead person’s soul.  These ‘dead bells’ are often carved on monuments and tombstones in Scotland and Northern England.  There are two men ringing dead bells on the Bayeux Tapestry at the funeral of Edward the Confessor:

But there are also superstitions and beliefs concerned with church bells particularly during the medieval period. They were thought to have special protective powers to drive away evil spirits for example and were often baptised. After all, most people know of the Houses of Parliament’s world famous Great Bell in its clock house, Big Ben. The  Catholic church still has a blessing for new bells in which they’re  given the power to protect those who hear them, repel storms and triumph over evil.

There are also several legends concerning bells that have ended up underwater either due to cliff erosion, a reservoir or hidden in lakes.  They are reputed to ring from their watery graves at dead of night.

Bells have always been an intrinsic part of church life whether ringing to denote the end of a life or jubilantly pealing at the beginning of a new life in marriage.  They have been held in reverence and awe due to their supposedly magical powers.  Even today, they sometimes have names and are seen as part of the community.  Both the Betchworth and Beckenham headstones record a connection between man and church bell that has lasted for centuries.

©Text and photos Carole Tyrrell unless otherwise stated.

References and further reading:

http://headstonesymbols.co.uk/headstone-meanings-and-symbols/bell-on-headstone/

http://www.solwaypast.co.uk/index.php/structures-in-stone/13-mem/90-st

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_bell

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_knell

http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/fcod/fcod08.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taphophobia

http://headstonesymbols.co.uk/headstone-meanings-and-symbols/bell-on-headstone/ http://www.famousliteraryworks.com/donne_for_whom_the_bell_tolls.htm

Home

https://surrey.cc.org.uk

the sound of sunken bells

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_ringing

View of the Charnel House. © Carole Tyrrell

On a clear summer’s day, if you stand in the Garden of Remembrance in St Helen’s churchyard and look over the wall, the marshlands seem to stretch on and on into the distance. But it’s a view that is constantly changing as new houses encroach on the flat landscape. The marshes lead on as far as Tilbury in Essex and the Thames estuary.  St Helen’s is in the hamlet of Cliffe in Kent and has a substantial churchyard which is well worth exploring.

As I wandered through it with my camera , I saw a structure in the northwest corner that looked as if it was for storage. But, as I drew closer, I saw the interpretation board nearby which announced that it was in fact the Charnel House and that it had been built for a much darker, more macabre purpose. I could easily imagine that on a duller day, the cloud low and dark, the wind biting across the marshlands as a group of parishioners carried a body back from the river, it would have assumed a far more sinister appearance.

Charnel House interpretation board. © Carole Tyrrell

According to Wikipedia:

‘The definition of a charnel house is that it is a building in which corpses or bones are piled in a place . The name ‘charnel house’ comes from middle French and also Latin. ‘Carnale’ means graveyard and ‘Carnalis’ means ‘of the flesh’. It was somewhere to store bones either disinterred to enable burial spaces to be reused or unearthed up by gravediggers . ‘

The Cliffe charnel house is a Grade II listed building but it is perhaps a misnomer. It dates from the 19^th century and was in fact a temporary mortuary for bodies that were taken from the river. They were the responsibility of the parish in which they washed up whether they died from suicide, drowning or were a sea burial.  

‘However, it was clear that if men died on the ships travelling up and down the Thames they would often just be dropped into the river to avoid the expense of burial. In a similar vein the villagers would sometimes push washed-up bodies back into the river in the hope they would be washed further upriver so that another parish would have the expense of dealing with them.’

The Charnel House in St Helen’s… © Marathon :: Geograph Britain and Ireland

At Cliffe, the recovered bodies would be put in the Charnel House to await identification and burial. 

The House is supposed to be one of a handful of such buildings along the Kent Coast although an article in the Kent Messenger thought:

‘That it may be the only surviving example of its kind.’

I haven’t seen or heard of another one – yet. Although there was supposed to be a ‘dead house’ at Higham, Kent but is now long gone.

The Cliffe charnel house was built in the mid 19^th century from flint with a plain tiled roof. The lantern on the roof was intended to let odours escape through its vents on either side. It was in use until the start of the 20^th century when it was closed due to several Public Health Acts. It was then used for storage.

© Carole Tyrrell

The Charnel House was restored in 2008 with £52,000 of National Lottery money. In a photo on the Historic England website there is a pre restoration photo of the House in which vegetation such as ivy almost completely covers it and the churchyard wall.  Timber within the structure, including the entrance doors, needed to be replaced as well as the windows. Ivy had invaded the wall, damaging it and that was repaired at the same time together with the flint walls.

It’s a reminder of a bygone time.  For those unfortunate souls without identification, then it might have meant burial in an unmarked grave within St Helen’s churchyard.  But at least they would have had a final resting place.

©Text and photos Carole Tyrrell unless otherwise stated.

References and further reading:

Charnel House at North West Corner of Churchyard, Cliffe, Medway (britishlistedbuildings.co.uk)

CHARNEL HOUSE AT NORTH WEST CORNER OF CHURCHYARD, Cliffe and Cliffe Woods – 1085764 | Historic England

File:Charnel House at St Helens Church, Cliffe, Kent, England, 2015-05-06-5136.jpg – Wikimedia Commons

The Charnel House in St Helen’s… © Marathon :: Geograph Britain and Ireland

Charnel house – Wikipedia

The Charnel House in St Helen’s… © Marathon cc-by-sa/2.0 :: Geograph Britain and Ireland (view in 2012)

Dry Bones Live: A Brief History of English Charnel Houses, 1300-1900AD (epoch-magazine.com)CHARNEL HOUSE AT NORTH WEST CORNER OF CHURCHYARD, Cliffe and Cliffe Woods – 1085764 | Historic England

On February 2 it was Candlemass, an important day in the church calendar. Already snowdrops are appearing, nodding their tiny white heads in the breeze and making people feel that Spring is on its way.

But these delicate little flowers have another side to them and it’s always at this time of year that I repeat this post. They have a darker side and a long association with churchyards and death.

Imagine yourself in a gloomy medieval church on the festival of Candlemass. You, and your fellow parishioners, have each brought your candles to be blessed by the priest and, after the procession which will fill the church with light, they will all be placed in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary.   Candlemass marked the end of winter and the beginning of Spring. The blessing is to ward off evil spirits.  It traditionally falls on February 2 and is shared with the Celtic festival of Imbolc.  And in the churchyard outside you can see green shoots forcing their way up through the hard winter earth.  The snowdrop’s milk-white flowers show that spring is on its way as they begin to emerge into the light.

The placing of the lit candles in front of the Virgin Mary’s statue gave the snowdrop one of its many other names – Mary’s Tapers.  But there are many others such: Dingle Dangle, Candlemas Bells, Fair Maids of February, Snow Piercer, Death’s Flower and Corpse Flower.

The snowdrop’s appearance has also inspired many comments . According to the Scottish Wildlife Trusts website they have been described as resembling 3 drops of milk hanging from a stem and they are also associated with the ear drop which is an old fashioned ear ring.  Anyone who has seen a group of snowdrops nodding in the wind will understand what they mean.   The snowdrop’s colour is associated with purity and they have been described as a shy flower with their drooping flowers.  However, the eco enchantments website reveals that the flower is designed in this way due:

‘to the necessity of their dusty pollen being kept dry and sweet in order to attract the few insects flying in winter.’

Snowdrops have been known since ancient times and, in 1597, appeared in Geralde’s ‘Great Herbal’ where they were called by the less than catchy name of ‘Timely Flowers Bulbous Violets’.  Its Latin name is Galanthus nivalis.  Galanthus means milk white flowers and the nivalis element translates as snowy according to the great botanist, Linnaeus in 1753.   In the language of flowers they’re associated with ‘Hope’ and the coming of spring and life reawakening.

However, yet despite all these positive associations, the elegant snowdrop has a much darker side. Monks were reputed to have brought them to the UK but it was the ever enthusiastic Victorians who copiously planted them in graveyards, churchyards and cemeteries which then linked them with death.  Hence the nickname name ‘Death’s Flower.’

They were described by Margaret Baker in the 1903 ‘Encyclopedia of Superstitions, Folklore and the Occult of the World’ as:

‘so much like a corpse in a shroud that in some counties  the people will not have it in the house, lest they bring in death.‘

So that’s where the ‘Corpse Flower’ nickname came from.

Snowdrops are also seen as Death’s Tokens and there are several regional folk traditions of connecting death with them. For example in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries it was considered very unlucky to bring the flower into the house from outside as it was felt that a death would soon occur.  The most unlucky snowdrop was that with a single bloom on its stem.    Other folk traditions were described in a 1913 folklore handbook which claims that if a snowdrop was brought indoors it will make the cows milk watery and affect the colour of the butter.  Even as late as 1969 in ‘The Folklore of Plants’  it was stated that having a snowdrop indoors could affect the number of eggs that a sitting chicken might hatch.  A very powerful plant if these are all to be believed – you have been warned!

It’s amazing that this little flower has so many associations and legends connected with it but I always see it as a harbinger of spring, rebirth and an indication of warmer days to come.

But the snowdrop also has a surprise.  This came courtesy of the Urban Countryman page on Facebook – not all social media is time wasting!  If you very gently turn over a snowdrop bloom you will find that the underside is even prettier and they also vary depending on the snowdrop variety.

Here is a small selection from my local churchyard and one from Kensal Green cemetery.

So don’t underestimate the snowdrop – it’s a plant associated with life and death but watch out for your hens and the colour of your butter if you do decide to tempt fate…..

©Carole Tyrrell text and photos unless otherwise stated

References:

http://www.plantlore.com

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/naturestudies/bright-in-winters-depths-why-the-flawless-flower-of-candlemas-is-ajoy-forever-8483967

http://www.flowermeaning.com/snowdrop-flower-meaning

http://www.ecoenchantments.co.uk/mysnowdropmagicpage.html