| Ancient Meols No 10. |
Bells, Crucifixes and Crosses
Bells, Crucifixes and Crosses Introduction Now let us turn our attention to bells. The existence of bells at an early period is clear from allusions in scripture, where they are mentioned by Moses, and by Zechariah-- Exodus xxxviii, 32; and xxix, 25. These were small bells and had no connexion with either the sacred hand-bells of the mediaeval period, or the church bells said to have existed since the time of St Dunstan. In other words, our remarks refer to the tintinnabulum, not the campana. The small bells that have been found in this country go back to the Roman times. Several globular bronze bells have been found with Roman remains at Headington, in Oxfordshire; and also at Heydon, Chesterford and Shefford. If it is possible to get Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities you will observe the forms and uses of these ancient bells [Tintinnabulum.] Materials and Shape Beside the gold bells of scripture there were silver bells too, frequently mentioned in our old English literature? Those of bell metal were, no doubt common also.
Bells of copper were well known in America, and of gold in Mexico and Peru. Those turned in brass in the 19th century were common. In the collection of our Mr. Smith, there was one about an inch long, with the Word SANCTI TOMAES (St. Thomas a' Becket) following a cross. Other bells were of lead or sheet iron were mentioned but I can only assume that lead was mistaken for pewter as lead would certainly give not a sound but a dull response, but no doubt any metal or its compound would suffice as long as it would produced a desired sound. The forms included the truncated pyramid, the ball, two hemispheres joined at a thick band, the imitation of a flower. The figure of a bell, transcribed from a watermark in paper, is given in the Archaeologia XXXVII; 450. It is from Bordeaux, about 1350, and resembles the modern church bell in shape; the ring at the top resembled a fleur-de-lis.
Uses of bells.
The prominent use of the bell was to decorate the dress of the clown or jester, who was commonly known as the fool. Three of these I have seen in Strutt's View of the Dress and Habits, of the fourteenth century. Each of them has bells attached to his cap; one appears to have so many as fourteen attached to a string around his waist; and two of them have bells attached to their elbows, cuffs, skirts, and gloves. On a statue in the cloisters of Magdalen College, Oxford, there were bells for tassels at a fool's robe. The following is a description of a fool as seen in the 1850's. "Wamba, the son of Witless, was provided with a cap having around it more than one bell, about the size of those attached to hawks, which jingled as he turned his head from one side or another in a foolish manner". In 1863 a curiously painted window at Betley, in Staffordshire, represented the Morris-dancers, several are shown with bells on their shoes, and all round their legs. At a 'festum fatuorum' or festival of fools, in which the superior clergy changed places for the day with the humblest people, the mock deans and canons had bells attached to their robes. But even on the most solemn of occasions the bell was employed; and it was at times apparently regarded as a sacred symbol. It was said that the ancient Druid priests used a peculiar kind when pronouncing their oracles.
The use of bells more recently observed as horse harness decoration had existed too at the time of the prophet Zechariah who says that the bells upon the horses shall be 'holiness to the lord'; and a similar use of them is made in connexion with the camels of the east. It was usual for one of a flock of sheep to have a bell attached to its neck to keep the flock together; it was said that in some districts they were attached to the tails of sheep. I have several bells, which are known as rumbler or crotal bells, they are about an inch in diameter, some still complete with the internal rattler. The famous Richard Wells manufactured rumbler bells that contained "a small amount of silver to make the sweetness of tone". There is certainly a distinct difference to be heard in sound from other manufacturers. The crotal bell, or pear-shaped bell, has been found in large numbers in Ireland, and one found from Dowris, near Parsonstown was made of a peculiar yellow brass, conventially known as Dowris brass. This particular crotal bell was six and a half inches long with the ring at the apex, and eight at the circumference.
This makes the differential between crotal and rumbler. The ceremony of excommunication in the Roman Catholic Church is "by bell, book, and candle-light;" but natives of England a century ago had some difficulty in understanding allusions to it. In our old English monuments, the figure of the bell and crucible point out the resting-place of a bell founder. Crucifixes and Crosses Crosses were formerly very numerous, that there were 300 in Iona, most of which are supposed to have been of wicker-work, and filled with sand or earth, well this was the theory of a Mr. G. Brown of Bolton in or around 1850; and there were strong probabilities in its favour. So many stone crosses could not have been made in those primitive times. They were nearly infinite in their varieties of shape, as may be inferred from the fact, that ecclesiastics appended to their signature each his own particular forms of cross. Accordingly those discovered from time to time are very varied. In France as a matter of interest, the date which is not known by me, a M. Fred. Troyon describing some antiquities from Chavannes, in the Pays de Vaud, Switzerland, noticed two Greek crosses of iron; but, as they exhibited no signs of the Christian faith, he supposed that they were parts of horse-harness.
The fylfot cross appears on the well-known D'Aubernon brass, in Stoke-Dubernon Church in Surrey. It is described in Boutell's Treatise on Brasses, p 28. A very interesting book but difficult to obtain at reference libraries. Respecting this cross, it is stated that it was of Oriental origin. "The Fylfot, a kind of cross potent rebated was of oriental origin, and used as the symbol of a religious sect in India and China, as early as the tenth century before the Christian era. It is found on runic obelisks at Carew and Nevern, and was a frequent ornament of the apparels of ecclesiastical vestments, belts, etc, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries after which it is rarely met with" Among some pilgrim signs of pewter, found in the Thames, was a crucifix in the form of a Tau, or St Anthony's cross, with the word SIGNUM engraved on the horizontal bar. It was said that two individuals, knowing the value put to these objects by collectors, went about reproducing these ancient artifacts and patinated them to make them look ancient, Papal Bulls of course were always a good bet. A cross, made of latten, and of the fourteenth century, was discovered in the churchyard of Walton-le-Dale, near Preston in 1853.
Examples in the Meols collection The number of crosses in that collection was fourteen, all of which, with one exception, are of lead. The remaining one is of brass or bronze. From the long projecting bar of several of them, and the absence of care in their finish, it is clear they were not used for religious purposes, but were probably used as winders for thread. A large Saxon cross of the red sandstone of the neighbourhood was discovered on Hilbre Island just off the coast of the Wirral, it was probably the identical cross represented in Camden's map, and marked the site of a holy place, its diameter was twenty-three inches.
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