THE OLD - Old Wirral.com

THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
hours fifty
chamber of
minutes. In the
West Kirby Parish
ringing
church
there are framed several interesting
records of bell-ringing by the local band.
The uses and varieties of bells were once
greater than they are
mediaeval times a small
now. Thus in
bell was used at
the solemn service of the Mass, when
three strokes were sounded as the choir
sang the first three words of " Sanctus, Sanctus,
Sanctus,
Dominus Deus
Sabaoth," and the bell was accordingly
called the ** Sancte " or " Saunce " bell.
It was rung not only to warn the illiterate
congregation there present to make a
solemn acknowledgment of the doctrine
of the Trinity, but also that those who
could not come to church might bow the
head.
A little later in the service came the
Elevation of the Host, when again a bell
was rung. This was called the " Sacring
" or the " Sackering " bell. Two
such bells figure in the inventory of the
monastery of Stanlaw at the time of the
Dissolution. The use of such bells was
forbidden in the reign of Edward VI,
who issued the following injunction, " all
ringing and knolling of bells shall be
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