"Big Bell" Rope

[JD]

I have just climbed the tower of our local church, to see if there are any decorative knots on the bell ropes.

The handle of the bell rope is covered in a coloured fleece. I assume that fleece is threaded through the actual rope itself? If it were just attached to the outside it would slip?



I also noticed that one end of the rope is knotted as per the photos, is this just a quick release mechanism?




They also had a couple of old fids there that they use for when the rope gets tangled.

[Fairlead]

The "Sally" is actually woven into the rope, each of the colours around one of the three strands.
Like in this URL:
http://www.ellisandpritchards.co.uk/ropes.html

Fairlead