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Ringing out thanks

BBC Schools Radio has broadcast a dramatic retelling of the story behind one of Newark's oldest and most famous customs - ringing for Gopher at Newark Parish Church.

Written by former teacher David Self of Norwich the programme is part of an ongoing series called Together which is a weekly radio assembly for 7-11 year olds.

It is regularly heard by half a million children in schools across the country and next week's edition which was recorded in Newark features contributions from the Mount C of E Primary School whose pupils sing hymns from the BBC songbook Come And Praise and record their impressions of Newark the parish church and its bells.

The broadcast also features words from Mr Bill Midwinter (Master of the Newark Parish Church society of bell ringers) who introduces the main theme of the programme when he speaks about the role church bells have played in communication and how in medieval times in Newark they saved a man called Gopher from almost certain death.

Ringing for Gopher has long been an established part of the parish church calendar but the last time the sound of Newark's Gopher Bells was broadcast to the nation was more than 50 years ago in 1936.

Tradition states that the Newark custom of Ringing For Gopher began more than 300 years ago in medieval times when a Flemish merchant (or engineer - versions differ) by the name of Gopher was trying to find his way to Newark on a cold and foggy winter's night.

In those days much of the area around the Trent - at Averham Kelham and Crankley Point - was very marshy and in the dark Gopher strayed off the safe path and lost his way.

His horse stumbled into a bog and began to sink into the dark oozing mud.

Fearing that he would be caught out on the marshes overnight set upon by robbers or sucked down himself into the treacherous marshes Gopher dismounted and prayed for deliverance.

As if in answer to his prayers he suddenly began to hear the sound of distant church bells - the bells of St Mary Magdalene Newark - ringing out for evensong.

Gopher rejoiced at the sound and realised that by travelling towards them across the marshes he would be guided to the safety of Newark's bustling streets.

Once inside the town Gopher immediately resolved to mark his deliverance by bequeathing a sum of money to the ringers of Newark that they might ring out a peal of bells at that same time each year in the hope of guiding another lonely traveller to safety.

The precise wording of Gopher's bequest has long since disappeared but the tradition of Ringing for Gopher lives on. Each year a team of volunteer bell ringers at Newark parish church ring out the Gopher bells between 5pm and 6pm on six consecutive Sunday evenings during October and November.

The last time that Gopher Bells were broadcast was in October 1936 as part of a BBC radio series called The Ringing Isle.

Although that programme lasted for only 15 minutes it prompted many ex-Newarkers to write in to the BBC and the Newark Advertiser to express its delight at hearing such a colourful reminder of the town.

On that occasion the broadcast was prefaced by an explanatory talk on the Gopher legend by the Rev. P. Butterfield speaking from the church vestry.

He explained that while the name Gopher - with its Dutch or Belgian origins - may seem somewhat out of place in the English Midlands it was not without precident.

During the medieval period there were a significant number of European merchants known to be living and working in Newark mainly in connection with the wool trade.

Cornelius Brown in his two-volume History of Newark (published 1904-07) quotes the names and trading allegiances of many such people (although not unfortunately anyone by the name of Gopher) and points out that Newark's importance at that time was largely based on its flourishing trade with Flanders and the Low Countries.

Wool was the major export commoditiy being shipped over to the continent from the ports of Boston and Hull and woven into cloth in the textile mills at Bruges and Ghent.

From here finished woollen garments were carried and sold throughout Europe from France to Russia.

Gopher may have been one of these European merchants sent over to Newark to oversee the export process. Other versions of the Gopher legend suggest that he may have been a Dutch engineer bringing that country's expertise in dyke building and flood control to the unruly River Trent.

Whatever the truth behind Gopher's presence in Newark his salvation from the trecherous Trent marshes and the bell-ringing custom which he inspired have proved to be one of the town's most enduring and best loved legends and one which - as next week's radio broadcast demonstrates - can still find relevance in today's world.

ABOVE: BBC recording engineer Mr Tony Wass and presenter Rachel Hawthorn explore the legend of Newark's Gopher Bells high up on Newark Parish Church tower with pupils from the Mount C of E Primary School Nathan Ridyard Michael Blakeman and Shireen Lusby.

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