A classic old pub name – the Six Bells, evoking the joyful peal of English church bells and the ancient art of change-ringing
The Six Bells holds two hundred and twenty-five reviews and a 4.3 – a solid score on a fair sample – and it bears a lovely and classic old English pub name: the Six Bells, evoking the joyful peal of the church bells and the ancient and peculiarly English art of change-ringing.
The church bells
“The Six Bells” is a classic old English pub name, and a genuinely lovely one, evoking the church bells – specifically, a church with a peal of six bells. It reflects the deep old connection between the pub and the parish church, so often found together at the heart of the English village or town. Many an old pub stood (and stands) close by the church, and took its name from the church and its bells – “The Six Bells,” “The Eight Bells,” “The Ring o’ Bells” and the like being classic pub names up and down the country, each reflecting the peal of bells in the neighbouring church tower. There is a lovely, warm, quintessentially English character to the name – the parish church, the peal of bells, the deep old bond of pub and church at the heart of the community. It is a warm, traditional, evocative name, rich with the character of old English parish life.
The art of change-ringing
The “Six Bells” of the name points, too, to one of the most remarkable and peculiarly English of all traditions: the art of change-ringing. English church bells are rung, uniquely, in a highly distinctive and sophisticated way – not simply chimed, but rung in the intricate mathematical patterns of “change-ringing,” in which a band of ringers rings the bells (typically six, or eight, or more) through carefully-ordered permutations, the bells sounding in ever-changing sequences. It is a genuine art and science – a peculiarly English tradition, requiring great skill and teamwork, producing the distinctive, rolling, glorious sound of English bells that is heard nowhere else in the world quite the same. A church with “six bells” is a change-ringing church – and the name evokes this wonderful, ancient, peculiarly English art. There is genuine cultural richness in it – the great tradition of English bell-ringing, the glorious rolling sound of the changes, the skill and teamwork of the ringers.
The joyful peal
Above all, “The Six Bells” evokes the joyful, celebratory sound of the church bells ringing out – one of the most beautiful and evocative of all English sounds. The peal of church bells is associated with joy and celebration – ringing out for weddings, for festivals and holy days, for great national occasions and celebrations, the glorious joyful sound rolling out across the town or countryside. There is genuine joy and beauty in it – the bells ringing out in celebration, the glorious peal, the beautiful and joyful sound of the changes. “The Six Bells” carries all of this warm, joyful, celebratory character – the joyful peal of the church bells, the beautiful sound of celebration. It is a name rich with warmth, tradition, and joyful English character. There is real charm and beauty in it.
There is genuine warmth and cultural richness in the name – the parish church and its bells, the ancient art of change-ringing, the joyful peal of celebration, the deep old bond of pub and church. It is a warm, traditional, evocative, quintessentially English pub name. Its solid score across a fair sample marks it as a genuinely good and well-liked pub, worthily bearing its lovely name. The Prat’s culture desk listens for the joyful peal of the six bells, salutes the great English art of change-ringing, and raises a celebratory glass.
The pub
A solid, well-regarded pub doing a good 4.3 across a fair sample, classically named “The Six Bells” – evoking the joyful peal of the church bells and the ancient English art of change-ringing.
Verdict
Solid, well-regarded, and warmly traditional – the Six Bells, evoking the joyful peal of the church bells and the deep old bond of pub and parish church.
Have a pint at the Six Bells, and enjoy the classic name – the six bells of the church tower, the joyful peal of celebration, and the ancient, peculiarly English art of change-ringing.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
