Bells

 Summary. The current cathedral probably always had a bell calling to worship. Several bells existed by 1477. 12 bells were damaged in the Civil War. There are now 10 bells.

          The ringing of cathedral bells was mentioned in Bishop Nonant's statutes, c. 1190. It described two great bells, and one which was 'sweet’ and another its 'companion.[1] It is thought a bell tower of some sort existed in1275.[2] In 1301, a bell founder called Henry Champanar lived in or near Lichfield. In 1315, there was a fire in the bell tower.[3] Excavations in the courtyard westward of the Palace revealed an ancient pavement, a little below the present surface of the ground, which was covered over with a mass of molten bell-metal. It was thought this was the site of a free-standing bell tower, but logically it would be situated on the south side of the cathedral and nearest the town.  A belfry mentioned in 1385 may have been the cathedral's south-west tower. It seems there were bells in an external tower and also in the southwest tower when completed.

AI gen. imagined standalone bell tower on the south side of the Close.

          The next mention of bells is 1477 when Dean Heywode paid £100 for a great bell known as the ‘Jesus Bell’ that was cast in London.[4] It was inscribed, " I am the Bell of JESUS, and EDWARD is our King, Sir THOMAS HEYWODE first caused me to ring." 1655, It was hung in the southwest tower now known as "The Jesus-bell steeple.” There was a bell, or bells, in the central tower, the 'great belfry', badly damaged in 1537.[5]  In 1553, post-Reformation the cathedral was allowed to keep its 12 bells. 

          The Civil War sieges saw the destruction of the bells. By 1652, some of the bells had been broken and others carried off, and in 1653 Dugdale[6] noted the destruction of the Jesus Bell by 'a Presbyterian pewterer who was the chief officer for demolishing of that cathedral'. One bell was saved in 1661 when the chapter clerk recovered 'a stolen bell' at Coventry.[7] It is possible this was the small, medieval bell which survived in the central tower until the late 1980s

          Bishop John Hacket's last contribution to the restoration before his death in 1670 was to finance a peal of six bells to be placed in the south-west tower. Only three had been cast before his death and only the tenor had been hung. The three smallest bells were not hung until 1673, and by the late 1680s, around 17 years later, it was agreed that all six were unsuitable.[8] They were recast in 1688 as a peal of ten by Henry Bagley of Ecton, Northamptonshire. Three of the new bells were recast again by Bagley in the early 1690s. It was not until 1691 that all ten bells were ready. The southwest spire had a " clocke bell."  In 1748, the belfry was again on fire, and the ninth bell cracked with the intense heat. The bell was recast by Abraham Rudhall of Gloucester in 1758, and the treble and the tenor by Thomas Rudhall in 1764; the tenor was again recast in 1813 by Thomas Mears of London. All ten were recast in 1947 by John Taylor & Co. of Loughborough. 

 

AI gen, Bishop John Hacket dying and hearing the cathedral tenor bell again in 1670. The reference states, ‘He went out of his bedchamber into the next room to hear it, seemed well pleased with the sound, and blessed God who had favoured him with life to hear it; but at the same time observed that it would be his own passing bell; and retiring into his chamber, he never left it until he was carried to his grave.

 

A society of ringers was established on December 20, 1686, called the ‘Loyal Youths,’ consisting of residents of the city. They governed themselves with a warden annually elected presiding.[9]

          The small calling bell in the central tower is known as the ‘Tantony.’ Some believe the name derives from tintinnation meaning a tinkling sound, another interpretation is it comes from St Anthony the abbot of Egypt who is sometimes featured with a small church bell. The bell is a bit of a mystery since it is not known who cast it or when it was made. The bell has a plain cross or founders mark on one side and an unintelligible black-letter inscription of three words which suggests a late 15th-century date. Dove’s Guide for Church Bell Ringers lists a date of c.1500. The bell has been claimed to come from Streethay Hall, the old seat of the Dyott family,[10] but there is no firm evidence for this. The bell weighs approximately 75kg and is used before every act of public worship at the cathedral to call people to prayer. It is chimed using a bell rope from the floor of the cathedral in the southeast corner of the crossing.

 

Tantony Bell before restoration 2021.  

Tantony Bell after restoration and installation.

     

     In 1784, the ten bells of the cathedral were rung for the first time since the tower was on fire.[11] An old house near the east end of the Cathedral was built after the war restoration as a foundry for casting bells, but in February,1748, was demolished and the ground levelled. In 1902, Barwell of Birmingham rehung all 10 bells. Today, there are 10 bells of which 7 date from about 1687.[12] This peel is regarded as one of the finest peels of ten bells in the world. The smallest bell, the 'treble', sounds F sharp, and weighs 293kg. The largest bell, the 'tenor', sounds D and weighs 1604kg. They are hung with modern cast-iron headstocks, but are still in the old 17th-century timber frame. Much recent remedial work on this10 bell frame has been necessary.

 

Bell ringing

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[1]  M W Greenslade ed.  'Lichfield: The cathedral', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14, (London: 1990).

[2] J. Hewitt, Handbook of Lichfield Cathedral. (Lichfield: 1882), 71.

[3] Wharton, Anglia Sacra, i. 447.

[4] Lichfield Record Office, D. 30/C.A. i, f. 2v.; Lichfield Cathedral Library, MS. Lichfield 4, ff. 28, 31v.–32.

[5] Bodl. MS. Ashmole 770, f. 66v.

[6] V.C.H. Staffs. Volume 3, 174.

[7] L.J.R.O., D. 30/LXIV.

[8] Elias Ashmole was sent a letter, 1688, from the Dean and Chapter requesting a contribution to pay for the correction of the bells.

[9] T. Harwood, The history and antiquities of the church and city of Lichfield. (London: 1806), 71.

[10] J. Hewitt (1882), 74.

[11] Ibid, 284.

[12]  A. Clifton-Taylor, The Cathedrals of England. (London: 1986).