Love's Guide to the Church Bells of Kent

Canterbury Cathedral, Oxford Tower

Photo: Dickon Love

12 bells plus extra treble and sharp 2nd hung for full circle ringing
Tenor: 34-3-4 in C♯.
Grid Ref: TR151579
Rung from: Upstairs Ringing Room
Frame: Whitechapel Bell Foundry, 1981
Denomination: Church of England
Diocese (Anglican): Canterbury
Archdeaconry (Anglican): Canterbury
Kent County Association of Change Ringers District: Canterbury
Building Listed Grade: I Click for Heritage details.
Peals rung at the tower

Details of the Bells

	Bell		Weight (most recent)	Diameter	Note	Date	Founder	Canons	Retuned
®	Treble	Crundale	6-0-2	27¼"	G♯	1981	Whitechapel Bell Foundry	Flat	Never
®	2	Alphege	6-2-2	28¾"	F♯	1981	Whitechapel Bell Foundry	Flat	Never
®	3	Thomas	6-2-20	29½"	E♯	1981	Whitechapel Bell Foundry	Flat	Never
®	4	Mary	7-0-12	31"	D♯	1981	Whitechapel Bell Foundry	Flat	Never
®	5	Ethelbert	7-3-16	32½"	C♯	1981	Whitechapel Bell Foundry	Flat	Never
®	6	Anselm	8-0-12	33¼"	B♯	1981	Whitechapel Bell Foundry	Flat	Never
®	7	Blaise	8-3-24	35"	A♯	1981	Whitechapel Bell Foundry	Flat	Never
®	8	John	10-3-26	38"	G♯	1981	Whitechapel Bell Foundry	Flat	Never
®	9	Llanfranc	15-0-8	42½"	F♯	1981	Whitechapel Bell Foundry	Flat	Never
®	10	Gabriel	17-3-16	45"	E♯	1981	Whitechapel Bell Foundry	Flat	Never
®	11	Augustine	24-2-10	50½"	D♯	1981	Whitechapel Bell Foundry	Flat	Never
®	Tenor	Trinity	34-3-4	56½"	C♯	1981	Whitechapel Bell Foundry	Flat	Never
®	Extra Treble	Simon	5-2-5	26"	A♯	1981	Whitechapel Bell Foundry		Never
®	Flat 6th	Ernulf	8-1-16	34"	B	1981	Whitechapel Bell Foundry		Never

® - Hung for full circle ringing

Inscriptions

The ring of 12 replaced by the current ring

Bell	Weight (most recent)	*(As supplied)*	Diameter	Note	Date	Founder	Retuned	Fate
Treble	6-0-18	6-0-16	28⅞"	G	1923	Mears & Stainbank	Never	Recast 1981
2	6-1-18	6-1-15	30"	F	1923	Mears & Stainbank	Never	Recast 1981
3	6-3-16	6-3-24	31½"	E	1802	Thomas Mears I	Never	Recast 1981
4	7-1-14	7-1-0	32"	D	1802	Thomas Mears I	Never	Moved to the Arundel Tower in 1981
5	7-1-8	7-1-17	34"	C	1855	George Mears & Co.	Never	Moved to the Arundel Tower in 1981
6	8-0-23		36"	B	1727	Samuel Knight	Never	Moved to the Arundel Tower in 1981
7	8-3-25		38"	A	1727	Samuel Knight	Never	Moved to the Arundel Tower in 1981
8	10-2-7	10-2-25	40"	G	1855	George Mears & Co.	Never	Moved to the Arundel Tower in 1981
9	12-2-6		43½"	F	1727	Samuel Knight	Never	Recast 1981
10	16-3-5		46½"	E	1728	Samuel Knight	Never	Recast 1981
11	21-3-2		51½"	D	1727	Samuel Knight	Never	Recast 1981
Tenor	32-0-6	32-0-6	57"	C	1951	Mears & Stainbank	Never	Recast 1981

Prior Henry's bells from the Arundel Tower

Bell	Weight (most recent)	Date	Founder	Fate
Chapter Bell	5½ cwt approx.	1316	Unknown	Unknown
1	20 cwt approx.	1316	Unknown	Unknown
2	22 cwt approx.	1316	Unknown	Unknown
3	24 cwt approx.	1316	Unknown	Unknown

The set of six by John Bayle

Bell	Weight (most recent)	Date	Founder	Retuned	Fate
Treble	8-0-18	1499	John Bayle	Never
2nd	12-1-0	1499	John Bayle	Never
3rd	15-1-9	1499	John Bayle	Never
4th	18-0-1	1499	John Bayle	Never
5th	25-1-5	1499	John Bayle	Never
Le Mariebelle	33-0-22	1499	John Bayle	Never	4 of these bells were recast by Joseph Hatch in 1625. The resultant ring of six was sold to St Peter's Sandwich in 1726, at which point the tenor was recast by Samuel Knight (1727). The whole ring amounting to 55-1-6.

The 1726/7 Samuel Knight Ring of Eight

Bell	Weight (most recent)	*(After 1981 tuning)*	Diameter	Note	Date	Founder	Retuned	Fate
Treble	7-1-14			C	1726	Samuel Knight	Never	Recast 1854
2nd	8-0-23	8-0-23 (A♯)	36"	B	1726	Samuel Knight	1981 Whitechapel	Moved to the Arundel Tower in 1981
3rd	8-2-25	8-3-25 (G♯)	38"	A	1726	Samuel Knight	1981 Whitechapel	Moved to the Arundel Tower in 1981
4th	11-0-24			G	1726	Samuel Knight	Never	Recast 1854
5th	?			F	1726	Samuel Knight	Never	Recast 1727
6th	?			E	1726	Samuel Knight	Never	Recast 1728
7th	21-3-2		51½"	D	1726	Samuel Knight		Recast 1981
Tenor	30 cwt approx.			C	1726	Samuel Knight	Never	Recast 1778

Bells recast from the Samuel Knight octave

Bell	Weight (most recent)	Diameter	Note	Date	Founder	Retuned	Fate
5th (of 8)	12-2-6	43½"	F	1727	Samuel Knight		Recast 1981
6th (of 8)	16-3-5	46½"	E	1728	Samuel Knight		Recast 1981
Tenor (of 8)	28-1-0		C	1778	Pack & Chapman	Never	Recast 1951

Augmentation to 10 bells

Bell	Weight (most recent)	*(As supplied in 1802)*	*(After tuning in 1981)*	Diameter	Note	Date	Founder	Fate
New treble (of 10)	6-3-16				E	1802	Thomas Mears I	Recast 1981
New 2nd (of 10)	7-1-14	6-3-24	6-3-0	32"	D	1802	Thomas Mears I	Moved to the Arundel Tower in 1981

Bells recast from the ring of 10

Bell	Weight (most recent)	*(As supplied 1855)*	Diameter	Note	Date	Founder	Retuned	Fate
3rd (of 8)	?	7-1-0		C	1854	George Mears & Co.	Never	Recast 1855
6th (of 8)	?			G	1854	George Mears & Co.	Never	Recast 1855
3rd (of 8)	7-1-8	7-1-17	33¾"	C	1855	George Mears & Co.	1981 Whitechapel	Moved to the Arundel Tower in 1981
6th (of 8)	10-2-7	10-2-25	39½"	G	1855	George Mears & Co.	1981 Whitechapel	Moved to the Arundel Tower in 1981

Augmentation to 12 bells

Bell	Weight (most recent)	*(As supplied in 1923)*	*(After tuning in 1981)*	Diameter	Note	Date	Founder	Fate
New treble (of 12)	6-0-18	6-0-16		28⅞"	G	1923	Mears & Stainbank	Recast 1981
New 2nd (of 12)	6-1-18	6-0-15		30"	F	1923	Mears & Stainbank	Recast 1981

Bell recast from the ring of 12

Bell		Weight (most recent)	Diameter	Note	Date	Founder	Retuned	Fate
Tenor (of 12)		32-0-6	57"	C	1951	Mears & Stainbank	Never	Recast 1981

Incarnations of Great Dunstan

Bell	Weight (most recent)	Date	Founder	Retuned	Fate
Great Dunstan	?	1459	Unknown	Never	Recast 1499
Great Dunstan	64¼ cwt	1499	John Bayle	Never	Recast 1663
Great Dunstan	62-1-5	1663	Michael Darbie	Never	Recast 1684
Great Dunstan	69-3-5	1684	Christopher Hodson	Never	Recast 1762

History

	1425		The Oxford Tower was built.
	1430		Great Dunstan (that used to hang in the Campanile) was recast.
	1433		The bells from the Arundel Tower were transferred to the Oxford Tower. (The bells from the Angel Steeple then went to the Arundel Tower.)
	1459		Great Dunstan was finally hallowed and hung in the Oxford Tower.
	1499		John Bayle cast "le Mariebelle" and 5 other bells and recast Great Dunstan.
	1625		Four of the Oxford Tower bells were recast and probably augmented to six.
	1663		Michael Darbie recast Great Dunstan.
	1684		Christopher Hodson recast Great Dunstan.
	1726		The bells in the Oxford Tower were sold to St Peter's, Sandwich.
	1727		Samuel Knight cast a ring of 8 for the Oxford Tower, recasting the 5th.
	1728		Samuel Knight recast the 6th.
	1758		An attempt was made to mend Great Dunstan with solder.
	1762		Lester, Pack & Chapman recast Great Dunstan.
	1778		The Tenor was recast by Pack & Chapman.
	1791		There was an unusual performance on the 8 bells over a day period when a man played tunes on them in an ingeniuous form of "clocking". [1]
	1802		The ring was augmented to 10 by Thomas Mears I with addition of 2 treble bells. The bells were reopened on 1 June 1902. [2]
	1854		The 3rd & 6th were recast by Charles & George Mears, but found to be the wrong note, so they were recast again the following year.
	1872		The Canterbury Chimes were designed and installed.
	1892		Great Dunstan was rehung on a new steel girder headstock by Samuel B. Goslin of Bishopsgate.
	1897		The bells were rehung by Thomas Blackbourne to Mr J. K. Jerram's design.
	1923		The bells were augmented to 12 by Whitechapel with the addition of 2 treble bells given as a War Memorial for members of the Kent County Association.
	1951		The Tenor was recast by Whitechapel and all the bells were rehung on ball bearings.
	1981		7 of the bells in the Oxford Tower were scrapped and a new ring of 12 with two semitone bells were cast and hung in the Oxford Tower in a new frame. Great Dunstan together with 5 of the old bells in the clock chime were hung in the Arundel Tower. Three cast iron framesides and two sets of fittings (presumably from the trebles) were reused at Tacolneston, Norfolk.

[1]

The admirers of bell-music in this city have for the last three days been entertained a man playing various tunes upon the fine peal of eight bells in our cathedral. The method used by this Campanalogist is, fastening the ends of the bell-ropes down to the floor the belfry, tightened so much as to bring the clappers nearly to touch the edge of each bell; then raising himself upon a platform in the centre with all the ropes within his reach, a slight blow from the hand or arm upon any of the ropes produces the note required. (Kentish Gazette (Tuesday 08 March 1791))

[2]

CANTERBURY, June 4. Tuesday being the day for a General Thanksgiving, it was devoutly observed throughout this city. The Mayor and Corporation went to the Cathedral in the morning, where a very excellent sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Wellfit The new musical peal of Bells, at the Cathedral, (consisting of ten) were opened on the occasion, which were rang several times in the course of the day. (Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal (Friday 04 June 1802))

The Belfry

Viewed from above, the 8th is on the left, the extra treble at the bottom - both these bells are on the upper tier. The tenor may be seen in the top right.
Photo: Dickon Love

Again from above, the 3rd, 4th and 5th may be seen in a row. The bell on the upper tier at the extreme right is the flat 6th.
Photo: Dickon Love

From the side, the 8th (left) and extra treble may be seen on the top tier. The 5th and 6th may be seen at the bottom.
Photo: Dickon Love

Photographs from various restorations

The tenor on the floor of the cathedral awaiting hanging in 1981. Photo: James Hedgecock, 1981	Bells 5,6,7 and 8 of the old ring. Photo: Richard Offen collection	The tenor being recast at Whitechapel in 1951. Photo: Richard Offen collection
The "new" 1951 tenor. Photo: Richard Offen collection	The 1951 tenor coming back down the tow in 1981. Photo: Richard Offen collection	The "new" tenor removed from the tower in 1981. Photo: Richard Offen collection
Tenor lifted out of its pit from which the inner frameside has been removed to allow Great Dunstan to pass. Photo: David Cawley, 1981	11th on the ground, 1981. Photo: David Cawley, 1981	Tenor on the ground. Photo: David Cawley, 1981
The old 11th and the old treble. Photo: David Cawley, 1981	The treble in 1981. Photo: David Cawley, 1981	The 8th on the ground. Photo: David Cawley, 1981

Peal Boards

Timber Performance Board dated approx. 1991
20 Apr 1991: 5081 Grandsire Cinques (Enthronement of Most Rev George Carey as Archbishop.)