Ring Gallery

The Ringers of Launcells Tower, Frederick Smallfield (1829-1915)

Oil on canvas, English School, 1887. This painting was inspired by the poem The Ringers of Launcells Tower by Rev. R.S. Hawker of Morwenstow in his book Cornish Ballads and Other Poems'. In this poem, the bell ringers who rang at the accession of George III in 1760 were still alive to ring at his golden jubilee in 1810. The church of Launcells is midway between Stratton and Bude. The picture was painted 77 years after George III's golden jubilee and so is a total reconstruction. There is, therefore, no possibility that the figures are actual portraits of the 1810 ringers. Nevertheless, Smallfield had visited the church tower before he started the painting but made certain alterations to the layout for artistic reasons. He also studied the bell ringers at his local church in Willesden, north west London, to get the action and the angle of the ropes correct. A watercolour version of this painting was exhibited at the Watercolour Society in 1878. Frederick Smallfield studied at the Royal Academy and subsequently exhibited there several times. He lived for most of his life in London and at Lee-on-Solent in Hampshire

© RIC

Helix nebula, infrared Spitzer image

Helix nebula (NGC 7293), infrared Spitzer Space Telescope image. This is a planetary nebula, a series of shells of gas cast off by a dying star. The ejection of the star's outer layers exposes its hot core, whose radiation ionises the shells, causing them to glow. This image was taken at wavelengths of varying energy: high (blue), medium (green) and low (red). The gas in the central regions has been ionised more than the outer gas, which is shielded from the stellar core. The most highly ionised areas (cometary heads) are round the edge of the central void. Foreground and background stars are blue. The Helix nebula is 650 light years from Earth, in the constellation of Aquarius. Image data obtained by the IRAC sensor in October 2004

© NASA/JPL-CALTECH/J. HORA (HARVARD-SMITHSONIAN CfA)/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Chanctonbury Ring - West Sussex, England

Chanctonbury Ring - West Sussex, England. A notable landmark of West Sussex, surmounted by beech trees, and supposed by lovers of earth mysteries to possess supernatural powers. Note the house-shaped haystack (right). Date: circa 1910s

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection

Beech, Chanctonbury, England, Hay, Haystack, Historical, History, Landmark, Powers, Ring, Site, Stack, Supernatural, Sussex, Trees, West