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Love's
Guide to The Bells of the City of London |
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St Paul's Cathedral, Ludgate Hill
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Details of the Bells |
Bell | Weight (most recent)* | Weight (Measured 1878) | Weight (Measured 2000) | Diameter | Note | Date | Founder | Retuned | ||
® | Treble | 7-3-9 | 8-1-16 | 8-1-4 | 30⅞" | F | 1878 | John Taylor & Co., Loughborough | Never | |
® | 2 | 8-2-20 | 9-1-15 | 9-0-20 | 32½" | E♭ | 1878 | John Taylor & Co., Loughborough | Never | |
® | 3 | 9-1-6 | 10-0-3 | 9-3-12 | 34" | D | 1878 | John Taylor & Co., Loughborough | Never | |
® | 4 | 11-0-9 | 11-3-21 | 11-2-22 | 36 5/16" | C | 1878 | John Taylor & Co., Loughborough | Never | |
® | 5 | 12-2-9 | 13-2-14 | 13-1-0 | 38 9/16" | B♭ | 1878 | John Taylor & Co., Loughborough | Never | |
® | 6 | 12-2-24 | 14-0-4 | 13-2-14 | 39 9/16" | A | 1878 | John Taylor & Co., Loughborough | Never | |
® | 7 | 15-3-8 | 16-2-21 | 16-1-18 | 43⅛" | G | 1878 | John Taylor & Co., Loughborough | Never | |
® | 8 | 21-1-12 | 22-1-18 | 21-3-18 | 47 11/16" | F | 1878 | John Taylor & Co., Loughborough | Never | |
® | 9 | 27-0-16 | 28-0-7 | 27-1-22 | 53⅜" | E♭ | 1878 | John Taylor & Co., Loughborough | Never | |
® | 10 | 29-2-3 | 30-2-22 | 29-3-21 | 55" | D | 1878 | John Taylor & Co., Loughborough | Never | |
® | 11 | 42-3-7 | 44½ cwt approx. | 43-2-0 | 61½" | C | 1878 | John Taylor & Co., Loughborough | Never | |
® | Tenor | 61-2-2 | 62 cwt approx. | 61-2-12 | 68⅞" | B♭ | 1878 | John Taylor & Co., Loughborough | Never | |
® | The Banger | 18-2-26 | 49⅝" | C | 1700 | Philip Wightman, Clerkenwell | Never | |||
ꓕ | Quarter 1 | 12-2-9 | 40" | A♭ | 1707 | Richard Phelps, Whitechapel | Never | |||
ꓕ | Quarter 2 | 24-2-26 | 51" | E♭ | 1707 | Richard Phelps, Whitechapel | Never | |||
ꓕ | Great Tom | 102-1-22 | 81¼" | A♭ | 1716 | Richard Phelps, Whitechapel | Never | |||
҂ | Great Paul | 334-2-19 | 116¾" | E♭ | 1881 | John Taylor & Co., Loughborough | Never |
How the bells are tuned |
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History |
1087 | The building of St Paul's Cathedral began. | ||
1222 | A central tower and spire was built rising to a height of 520 feet. 5 bells were placed in the tower. | ||
1240 | The building was largely completed. | ||
c | 1350 | In the 14th century, a separate bell tower was built on the north-east side of the cathedral and was equipped with 4 bells. | |
c | 1450 | In the 15th century the bell tower was pulled down and the bells were scrapped. | |
1552 | Record of 5 bells in the tower. [1] | ||
1561 | On 4 June, the spire was struck by lightning, destroying the bells. The spire was never rebuilt nor the bells replaced, the Dean and Chapter rather relying on a single bell. | ||
1666 | The Great Fire of London damaged St Paul's so much, it could not be restored. The fire also probably destroyed any bells that were there. | ||
1675 | The foundation stone of the new St Paul's Cathedral was laid on 21 June. | ||
1698 | William III gave the tower and bells from St Stephen's Chapel in the Palace of Westminster to St Paul's. The largest, originally called "Edward of Westminster" later became known as "Great Tom" or "Westminster Tom". It weighed 82-2-21. | ||
1699 | Great Tom cracked after it fell off its carriage en route to St Paul's. | ||
1700 | A bell was cast by Philip Wightman and hung in the North West tower. | ||
1707 | Two quarter bells were cast by Richard Phelps. A contract (dated 15th Nov. 1706) was made with Phelps and the clockmaker Langley Bradley. | ||
1708 | Great Tom was recast by Philip Wightman and hung as the hour bell in the South West Tower. It weighed 73 cwt approx. | ||
1709 | The casting of Great Tom was a failure, and it was recast by Richard Phelps. The old bell was 82-2-11. The new bell was 96cwt approx. | ||
1716 | This casting of Great Tom had also failed, so it was recast again by Richard Phelps. | ||
1717 | Walters states that the quarter jacks were recast by Richard Phelps, however this seems unlikely given that they bear the date "1707" (info to be confirmed by a site visit). Walters estimated the bells to be 13cwt and 35cwt approx. | ||
1878 | A ring of 12 bells was cast and hung in the North West tower by John Taylor & Co. The new ring of 12 was opened by the Ancient Society of College Youths on 1 November. | ||
1881 | Great Paul was cast by John Taylor & Co. and was at the time (and until 2012) the largest bell in the country. It was originally hung with a wooden headstock. There were four ropes on the, two each side, falling behind each other in each case. Two were fitted at the top of the wheel and two at the usual place; the former were drawn out to clear the others. | ||
1882 | Great Paul was rung for the first time (in Loughborough) on 18 March, and dedicated on 3 June. | ||
1891 | Great Paul was rehung on a new headstock. A wooden wheel was supplied to replace the levers in use previously, and the bell and frame were moved higher in the tower to make room for the new clock. John Taylor supplied the headstock and the wheel. | ||
1971 | Great Paul was fitted with the present two iron wheels. They and the motors were supplied by Breviet-Mamias of Gagny, France (subcontraced by John Taylor). | ||
2000 | Restoration work took place on the frame and fittings by Whites of Appleton. In the course of this work, the bells were weighed in the belfry. | ||
2018 | A major restoration of the bells took place by John Taylor & Co, who transported them to Loughborough for cleaning and refitting, but not tuning. The frame was strengthened as part of this work. |
[1] | Item in the Steeple of belles in number five. (Edwardian Inventory, 1552) |
Articles
Engravings of the old cathedral |
Old drawings and photographs of the bells |
Photographs of the NE belfry in 2006 |
Photographs of the SE belfry |
Love's Guide to the Church Bells of the City of London | Page updated: 13 October 2019 |