O'Reilly — Ringing of Belh in N. Spain and in Ireland. 495 



been a group of such objects slung in a row from a bar in tbe upper 

 chamber of the Tower, in some such manner as we see illustrated 

 in the LLLuminated MSS. of the ninth and tenth centuries. Thus 

 in the &g. 4 (p. 167), taken from a MS. of St. Blaise, a.d. 800 to 

 900, the bar is placed across a round arch springing from shafts crowned 

 by capitals of an early Eomanesque type ; and the little tower, which, 

 though in ignorance of perspective, is drawn as if rising on the capital, 

 was most probably meant to represent the belfry in the back-ground 

 where the bells were kept. These slender towers, with small apertures 

 and conical roofs siu-mounted by a cross, quite correspond with the 

 Irish Cloicthech. 



Page 169. "If we adopt the idea that the ' Cloictige ' were not only, 

 as their original name proves, places where bells were housed, but also 

 where carillons were played, we need not disconnect the towers from 

 the bells, or sever them from the beautiful associations with their sound 

 which still linger in the traditions of the peasantry and which their 

 name conveys." 



From the foregoing, it may be inf eiTed that there is no proof that 

 bells, as used for ecclesiastical purposes, were "rung" — that is, were 

 given an oscillating motion by means of a rope — before the eleventh or 

 twelfth centxuies ; and it is suggested that such bells may have been 

 sounded by means of a hammer or mallet up to that period, as is 

 actually the custom still in the north of Spain, as appears from the 

 following statement by Hans Gradow. in his " In ISfortliern Spcmi,''^ 

 when describing the Town of Potes, capital of the district of La 

 Liebana, in the province of Santander, At p. 25, he says : — 



" The ayuntamiento^ or town hall, was formerly a church. The 

 illustration (which accompanies the description)^ is intended to show 

 the curious bell-tower which is so characteristic of the small churches 

 in northern Spain. It is really not a tower, but a continuation of the 

 western wall of the building, with eaves for the bells which are not 

 rung, but belaboured by hand, a man ascending to them thi'ough the 

 roof and playing them in quick time. The big bells in cathedrals are 

 usually rung by swinging the bells round and round, in a circle by 

 short ropes attached to two horizontal beams, and not in the ordinary 

 way from below with long ropes, which either rock the bell or the 

 clapper. In the maiwellous Giralda tower of Seville, foolhardy bell- 

 ringers will, for a consideration, cui'dle the visitors blood by hanging 



1 An enlarged copy of which accompanies this present paper. 

 E.I. A. PEOC, SEE. ni., VOL. VI. 2 



