[1] The society played a leading role in the early development of change ringing, and today, it provides ringers for important events at St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.
[2] Although it is a non-territorial association, its importance is recognised through having four representatives on the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers.
Robert Roan (Master in 1652) is said to have invented the ringing methods known as Grandsire Doubles and Plain Bob Minor, which are still rung today.
More recently, three members of the ASCY - Philip Earis, Andrew Tibbetts and David Pipe - have rung the longest peal ever, on handbells, consisting of 72,000 changes of Minor, ringing 100 different methods, all of which had to be memorised, and taking 24 hours and 9 minutes.
The Society also rang the 'extent' (or maximum number of possible permutations in the order of the bells) of Major - 40,320 changes, on 27 December 1977, taking 15 hours, 59 minutes to do so.