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Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

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Open Country: Bell-ringing in Devon

Bell-ringing in Devon

09/11/2017

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, Bell-ringing in Devon

Mary Ward-Lowery finds out why bell-ringing is different in Devon.

Devon bell-ringing is unique. Mary Ward-Lowery finds out why it all sounds a bit trance, and why bird-listening might be better than bird-watching.

Meditation, a celebration, a warning, the marking of a solemn occasion, music: bells are a public sound that changes according to the landscape. And bell-ringing in Devon is unique: it all sounds a bit trance, according to Mary Ward-Lowery. She hears other mind-bending sounds in this programme, including the noisy tramping of ants' feet and the peaceful fusion of bells and birdsong. 

With artist Marcus Vergette, sound recordist Tony Whitehead, an award-winning band of Devon call-change ringers, oh, and a steeplejack who spends his life mending church towers rocked by centuries of bells swinging the mortar loose.

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