norman & sons · cast 1432 · re-cast 1718 · twelve hundred-weight
eight o'clock, at the dimming of the light. the bell is rung with the wheel — one full turn, four strokes, then the rope is held until the wheel rests. it once signalled the covering of the kitchen fire; it now signals nothing in particular, but the town is quieter for ten minutes after, and that is reason enough to keep ringing it.
the bell-ringer is the man whose father was the bell-ringer. he locks the louvre against the rain and walks home along the lower street. what stops the bell is the eighth stroke; what stops the bell-ringer is supper, on the table, by his wife, who has heard him from the kitchen.
field-note · in summer the strokes are slow; in winter, quick — because the rope, in winter, is shorter by the length of his glove.
passing bell · great bell · dusk · bell-ringer · tower