# Question about Church/Cathedral Bell Ringing

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-church-cathedral-bell-ringing/595192>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 4, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-church-cathedral-bell-ringing/595192 "2011-09-04T22:25:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-church-cathedral-bell-ringing/595192/1 "2011-09-04T22:25:15Z")

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As I understand it, some bells weigh thousands of pounds, and obviously carry a huge amount of momentum when being swung. How do they make them stop for precise ringing - say when ringing out 6 “Gongs” for 6 oclock? I am especially interested in how they did it in pre technological times - before electric devises and such.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-church-cathedral-bell-ringing/595192/2 "2011-09-04T22:36:39Z")

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Reported duplicate.