During 1984 I worked on the removal of the largest ring of five bells in the world, at that time, from Peterborough Cathedral. This was part of a scheme to install a new ring of 14 bells.
I was given a pass key to the whole of the Cathedral and in my spare time was able to look at nearly every part of the fine building.
Marian, my late wife, was the appeals secretary with the responsibility of raising £100,000 to pay for this work and we put together a short history of the bells to be used as a fund raising document.
Each page of the book was sponsored by a local firm or business and then sold towards the fund.
This work has now been expanded to give details of the ancient bells and the completed ring, including many interesting items. The book has 53 pages and 70 photographs and illustrations.
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This drawing taken from THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF PETERBOROUGH by Symon Gunton 1609-1676 and Symon Patrick 1626-1707 shows the west front of the Cathedral. |
In 1709 Henry Penn cast a ring of ten bells for the Cathedral. It took him from 1709 to 1714 to complete the work, the problem being getting the bells in tune. His late master Henry Bagley had cast a similar ring of bells for Lichfield Cathedral in 1687. It is possible that Penn, 24 years old at the time, had used the same tools and equipment, as the bells were the same shape and weight.