Bell Ringing at Liverpool Cathedral, Merseyside

Firstly, I would like to thank irkibby for allowing me to use the audio of his video of the tenor bell ringing solo. Thanks again!

After the fantastic news of the Oxford D G Youth Team winning the whole RWNYC, I made made my way over with some team members and our chauffeur Jenny to the open ringing slot at Liverpool’s enormous Anglican Cathedral! As we drove through the streets of Liverpool, we could see the top of the Cathedral’s 101-meter-tall tower gracing the Liverpudlian skyline. It was a sight to behold once we rounded the corner onto Cathedral Gate! What made it even better was that the bells were ringing and echoing throughout the streets on the approach. What a haunting sound…

The Cathedral was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott (whose grandfather George Gilbert Scott was a pioneering Victorian Gothic Revival architect) and was begun in 1904, when Scott was only 22 years old! It was finished in 1978, but in 1939 the peal of twelve bells (82-0-11cwt tenor bell!!) plus the semitone bell having been cast by Mears and Stainbank of Whitechapel, London, with the great (albeit non swinging) bourdon bell “Great George” cast in 1940 by John Taylor and Co. of Loughborough. These bells are the highest and heaviest set of change ringing bells in the world.

Upon entering the Cathedral at the transept, I was told that everyone (bar those with mobility issues) would have to climb the tower via the stairs. All 500 odd of them!! So up I went… and up and up and up. By the time I got to the roof level I was absolutely knackered (having only had three hours of sleep thanks to some very loud and incessant Liverpudlian seagulls clamouring all night long right outside my bedroom window…) but I still went for it and got to the ringing chamber. Just as I’d expected, the bells were incredible, but inaudible in the ringing chamber. Though this may have been due to the buzz of background chatter from the throng of people in there. Once tuned into the ringing, the bells were actually quite easy to pick out. I rang the 34cwt 9th bell and the 82cwt tenor bell, the latter being an enormous personal goal finally achieved! Having had a good ring, I went back down to the transept roof to listen to a touch of Grandsire Cinques. The sound from outside trumped the inside sound enormously.

Видео Bell Ringing at Liverpool Cathedral, Merseyside канала Ringer Jake