ˈsanctus bell
Forms: α. 5– sanctus bell. β. 5–6 sanctes, sauntes, (-ys), 6 santes, saunctes, 7 sants-. γ. 5 sawnse, 6–7 sans, savns, sawnce, 6–7 (9 arch.) saunce-, sance-. δ. 6–7 saints, 7 saynts-, 7–8 saint's. ε. 7 saint-, St. bell. ζ. 6 sauncte, 9 sancte bell.
[f. sanctus + bell n.1]
A bell, commonly placed in a ‘cote’ or turret at the junction of the nave and the chancel (but often a handbell), rung at the Sanctus at Mass; in post-Reformation times often used to summon the people to church, being rung immediately before the service, when the pealing had ceased. (In 16–17th c. freq. used jocularly or allusively.)
| α 1479–81 Rec. St. Mary at Hill 101 Item, for nayle to amende the whele of the Sanctus bell. 1661 Blount Glossogr. (ed. 2), Sance Bell (campana sancta), the sanctus Bell. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 472/2 Sanctus bells have also been placed over the gables of porches. |
| attrib. 1867 Walker Ritual Reason Why 113 Sanctus-bell-cotes remain in many of our churches. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 472/2 Sanctus Bell-Cot or Turret. |
| β 1492–3 Rec. St. Mary at Hill 185 Item, to the smyth for mendyng of the sauntys bell, xxijd. Ibid. 186 For mendyng of the sanctes bell. 1553 Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden) 56 For hangynge of the sauntes bell, and for the corde, ijd. c 1618 Moryson Itin. iv. v. i. (1903) 457 They ring a knell with one great Bell..or with the Santsbell where they haue none greater. |
| γ 1499–1500 Rec. St. Mary at Hill 238 Item, ffor a Rope ffor the lytyll Sawnse bell. 1501–2 Ibid. 244 The Sans bell. 1538 in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden) 270 Item, ij belles, one a sauncebelle. 1592 G. Harvey Four Lett. iii. 47, I am neither so profanely vncharitable as to send him to the Sancebell, to trusse-vp his life with a trice. 1623–33 Fletcher & Shirley Nt.-Walker iii. iii, Alas, this is but the Sauncebell, here's a Gentlewoman Will ring you another peale. 1655 J. Phillips Satyr agst. Hypocrites 5 Like a crackt Sans-bell jarring in the Steeple. 1885 W. Rye Hist. Norfolk 233 A saunce bell or ‘ting-tang’ in situ. |
| attrib. 1848 B. Webb Cont. Ecclesiol. 111 Two sance-bell ropes still hang down in the middle of the Chancel. |
| δ 1599 Bp. Hall Sat. v. i. 119 Whose shril saints-bell hangs on his louerie While the rest are damned to the plumberie. 1678 Poor Robin's True Char. of Scold 4 Her Tongue is the Clapper of the Devil's Saints-bell, that rings all-in to Confusion. 1716 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) V. 313 It hath 3 Bells and a Saints Bell. 1839 Hints Study Eccl. Antiq. (Cambr. Camden Soc. 1842) 24 A Saint's bell, long disused, still hangs in the tower of Great St. Mary's, Cambridge. |
| ε 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 461/2 A Saint Bell, or Hand Bell. Ibid. 466/1 St. Bell, a little Bell rung in the Mass [etc.]. |
| ζ a 1553 in Surrey Archæol. Coll. IV. 18 Item a sauncte bell. 1854 N. & Q. 1st Ser. X. 434/1 The inscription ‘Signis cessandis’, &c...is..on the ‘sancte’ bell of the adjoining parish of Clapton. 1855 Rock Ibid. XI. 151/1 The first ringing was on the signa, or large bells; the last quarter of the hour's ringing was on the smaller bell, the sancte bell. |
| attrib. 1839 Hints Study Eccl. Antiq. (Cambr. Camden Soc. 1842) 25 Sancte-bell cot. A small but frequently elegant erection at the east end of the nave. 1845 Ecclesiologist IV. 282 A beautiful sancte-bell cot remains. [1876 Whitby Gloss., Sancte cot, a turret upon a Church roof for the ‘Sacring bell’.] |