History of the Off-Table Style

The "Off table" or "Yorkshire" ringing style was developed by the Shelley Handbell Ringers of Huddersfield, England and first used in public at the 1867 British Open Handbell Competition at Belle View in Manchester. Prior to this (from about 1780 onwards), the ringing styles were always either two or four in hand on sets of up to 40 bells, and were very popular at wakes. Thus the Lancashire Ringers, when they were first signed up by P.T. Barnam to go to the USA in 1850 (They first started touring in England in 1841) were such a four- in-hand team, and still were when they came to Australia in 1863.

Shelley HBR were also the first to use duplicate and triplicate handbells to avoid the need for re-allocation between pieces.

The competitions, of which there were many local ones, as well as the British Open at Belle View, were the main means of disseminating handbell information at that time and thus following the 1867 competition, other teams gradually changed their style, so that by the 1880s the majority of large northern bands were "off table". It is interesting that before the 1890's the Belle View competition pieces tended to be Music Hall hits of the day, but after that there was a swing towards more classical music.

Crosland Moor, Saddleworth, and Elland were the best "off table" teams at the beginning of the Century.

The style reached its apex in the first part of this century but then, apart from with a handful of teams, faded away, the last competition at Belle View being held in 1925 and the last organised by the Yorkshire Association in 1932.

Most teams at this time were public subscription bands so that when they declined and then disbanded, the bells were often put into the church for safekeeping - and then often later sold when the church needed money for repairs. This was the case with the two sets of over 100 bells each (practice set and concert set!) of the Saddleworth Ringers, which were sold in the early 70's, one of which is currently used by the Essex team "The Sound in Brass", and the 70 Horley bells which were sold from a church stall individually in 1958 and realised about $60.

The tradition was kept going by a few teams in Britain, including the Ecclesfield Handbell Ringers, and the Thurlstone Bell Orchestra, and one team in Sweden and two in Australia, Brookhampton, WA and Maryborough Q. It was fully revived in the late 1960's with the resurgence of handbell ringing in the U.K. and the setting up of the Handbell Ringers of Great Britain.

In Australia, the Brookhampton Ringers from the deep south of Western Australia still ring in one of the original nineteenth century variations of the "Off-table" method which became popular for a while west of the Pennines and in the south of England.  This ringing style can be viewed here.  The Royal Poland Street Ringers of London used the style towards the end of the nineteenth century after previously using the four- in-hand method. They used to tour extensively throughout Europe, especially performing at the command of the European Royal Families, and almost certainly sold their bells at the end of one such tour to what is now one of the few Swedish groups, the "Fredsklockorna", who still ring in the same last century style as Brookhampton and the nineteenth century English teams. (The writer knows of only one other Swedish group and they play in-hand). In this off-table style the bells are placed mouths downwards upon the tables, and are picked up with the hands turned inwards and rung on the up stroke as the hands are rotated back to their normal position.

                                                                          Photo: Michael Wright

Other "Off Table" teams in Australia these days (eg Kevinwood, Mount Torrens, St. Andrews) ring with the bells lying on their sides with the handles facing towards the ringers.

Fawcett/Bedford © 1996

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