The Heyhouses Ring
St. Annes on the Sea, Lancashire
Owner: Stuart Newton
The Heyhouses Ring comprises six John Norris dumbbells connected via a marshalling box to two USB serial ports on a laptop running Abel.
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The static ring evolved after I ordered a 3m x 3m Summer House kit and I was asked a casual question as to whether I intended to transfer the one dumbbell I had in my loft into it. A check of the specification revealed that it would not be possible to ring it standing up, without raising the walls and adjusting the roof pitch. Fortunately, a local ringer, Ashley Wilson, has his own joinery business and he confirmed that he would be able to produce a design and supply and fit the additional materials required.
In the meantime, I then thought that if all that work was going to be undertaken, would it be possible to house a ring of six? John Norris kindly (and quickly!) rose to the challenge and produced a proposed layout:-
The bell in position F is the Treble and it is a clockwise ring.
The rest, as they say, is history. Orders were placed and, within four months of the original question being asked, the Heyhouses Ring was opened on June 26th, 2021 when the first Quarter Peal (Plain Bob Minor) was rung.
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In case you were wondering, my original dumbbell is still in my loft!
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Record of Quarter Peals rung on the Heyhouses Ring
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Why is it called "Heyhouses” ?
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“St. Anne’s”, as a town name, only came into being in the 1870s after Lady Eleanor Clifton had paid for the construction of a daughter Church to St. Cuthbert’s Church, Lytham, to be built in the area then known as the Hey Houses.
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In 1873, the new Church was consecrated and dedicated to St. Anne (the mother of St. Mary) and, in the following years, the area became known as St. Anne’s.
It is said that the reason for such generosity by Lady Clifton was that too many of the Hey Houses residents, who had to walk past a local hostelry, The Trawl Boat Inn, on their way to worship at St. Cuthbert’s Church, stopped off there on the way and then never actually made it to the Church Service.
Records show that Lady Clifton got her way when the Trawl Boat Inn was finally closed down in 1883 after repeated reports of “drunkenness, fighting and other shenanigans”.
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Availability
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Currently the ring is only being made available to local ringers, with bookings strictly by prior arrangement.
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It is the intention, however, that availability will be extended more widely in Summer 2022
Donations
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Any donations received by the Heyhouses Ring will be used for the project to augment the bells at
St. Anne’s Parish Church, St. Anne’s on the Sea, in time for the Church’s 150th anniversary in 2023.
To view the campaign and/or make a donation, please go to:
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www.justgiving.com/campaign/bellproject2023
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Contact details for The Heyhouses Ring
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Links
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Lancashire Association of Change Ringers
Central Council of Church Bell Ringers
Association of Ringing Teachers
The Ringing World (including Bellboard)
