GLEANING BELL
OLD CUSTOM LINGERS. In many parts of rural England, during late August and early September, one may hear a church bell being rung morning and evening at times when no services are being held. This is the “gleaning bell,” which was once sounded in practically all villages and hamlets throughout the countryside at 9 a.m. and, 5 p.m., as soon as the harvest was sufficiently advanced, to tell the villagers when they might begin gleaning and when they must cease. The custom still lingers, even though the modern machine-rake leaves less wheat to be gleaned than did the old hand-rake. Indeed, the price of bread, in comparison with what it was before the war, has led to a revival of gleaning. In accordance with the old custom, wherever the gleaning bell is rung, a penny for the whole period is paid to the bell-ringer by each family in the parish that goes gleaning.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WC19251024.2.106.4.9
Bibliographic details
Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19437, 24 October 1925, Page 17 (Supplement)
Word Count
155GLEANING BELL Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19437, 24 October 1925, Page 17 (Supplement)
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