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The Pancake Bell
One Bingley tradition which has survived
is the ringing of the Pancake Bell on Shrove Tuesday.
There are a few other towers which also perform this ritual but surely not many who do it with no connection whatever to pancakes, races or any other local celebrations !
It is due to the dedication of former Tower Captain Dorothy Winup that the tradition survived through recent decades.
Number 7 is the favoured bell and it is simply tolled for 5 minutes from 11am each Shrove Tuesday.
It's good to know that this utterly redundant event appears to have a secure future at All Saints !
It is not known when the tradition commenced in Bingley but a careful look at dates of the old records of century and a half ago reveal that great ringing revels were held on Shrove Tuesday.
It is said that “shrove” is a corruption of shriving, that is the confession of sins before Lent and that in pre-Reformation times a bell was sounded to call the penitent to Church.
Later the Pancake Bell was rung at 11 am and marked the start of a holiday for local apprentices. An account of 1620 states :-
“...by the time it strikes eleven which (by the helpe of a Knavish Sexton) is commonly before nine, then there is a bell rung cauld (sic) the Pancake Bell, the sound whereof makes thousands of people distracted and forgetful of either manners or humanity”.
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