CovSoc member and chair of the Friends of Coventry Cathedral, Martin Williams, writes….
Shrove Tuesday falls on the 21st February this year. I do not know what you like but my preference is for a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkling of sugar on my pancake.
But have you ever heard of the Pancake Bell?
In Coventry on Shrove Tuesday there was for many years the tradition of pancake bells that rang out around midday (or a little earlier) at three of the city’s ancient churches – St John’s Church, Holy Trinity Church and St Michael’s Church.
The early Christians went to confession on Shrove Tuesday and were “shriven” – that is, absolved from their sins. In the first place the church bell was rung on Shrove Tuesday to call people to confession. As time went by the sound of the bell became associated with the making of the pancakes that by tradition precede the Lent fast. It meant that for some people the sound of the bell became the signal to stop working for the day. In theory, they ceased work in order to make pancakes. In practice, as the years went by the sound of the Pancake Bell simply heralded a public holiday for the remainder of the day.
The Pancake Bell tradition was dropped towards the end of the 19th century. As far as I can tell, it is not known what brought the Pancake Bell practice to an end at St John’s Church, but it is recorded that at Holy Trinity the bell ringer, Mr Eburne, forgot to ring the Pancake Bell one year. As nothing was said about his oversight, he never rang it again and his successors did not revive the custom.
At St Michael’s Church the Pancake Bell tradition came to a sudden end when the bells were removed from the tower at the start of the 1885 restoration. By the time the bells were made ready to ring years later, the custom of the Pancake Bell had been forgotten.
While I am writing about bell ringing customs, there was another bell ringing peculiarity at St Michael’s Church, and that was the “Pudding Bell”. On Sundays during the 19th century a bell was rung shortly after the conclusion of Mattins. People said that this Pudding Bell was rung to tell the people who had remained at home that the church service had ended, and that the churchgoers could be expected home shortly. In other words, it was time to get Sunday lunch ready!
That explanation does seem highly improbable, however, and other explanations of the Pudding Bell have surfaced from time to time. Some people have said that the Pudding Bell was rung to let St Michael’s worshippers know that there would be an early Evensong at 3.30pm. Others have said it was simply the continuation of the practice of ringing a Prayer Bell that had originated during one of this country’s past wars. During World War I, for example, there were prayer bells rung regularly across the country.
Martin would be interested to hear if anyone knows any more about the pancake bells in Coventry. Please contact him if you have more information.
This article first appeared in the February edition of the newsletter of the Friends of Coventry Cathedral, with kind permission of their Chair.