Bells
At 67 m (220 ft) above floor level, the bells of Liverpool Cathedral are the highest and heaviest ringing peal in the world. The peal proper (hung for full-circle change ringing) consists of thirteen bells weighing a total of 16.5 tons, which are named the Bartlett Bells after Thomas Bartlett (d September 4, 1912), a native of Liverpool who bequeathed the funding. The bells vary in size and note from the comparatively light 10 cwt treble to the tenor weighing 4 tons. The 13th bell (sharp 2nd) is extra to the main 12-bell peal, and its purpose is to make possible ringing in a correct octave in a higher key. All thirteen bells were cast by Mears & Stainbank of Whitechapel in London. The initial letters of the inscriptions on the thirteen bells spell out the name “Thomas Bartlett” (from tenor to treble).
The Bartlett bells are hung in a circle around the bourdon bell "Great George". At 14½ tons, Great George is the second most massive bell in the British Isles. (Only the 16½ ton "Great Paul" of St Paul's Cathedral in London is heavier.) Great George, cast by Taylors of Loughborough and named in memory of King George V, is hung in a pendant position and is sounded by means of a counterbalanced clapper.
Read more about this topic: Liverpool Cathedral, Completed Building
Famous quotes containing the word bells:
“O he did whistle and she did sing,
And all the bells on earth did ring
For joy our Saviour Christ was born
On Christmas Day in the morning.”
—Unknown. As I Sat on a Sunny Bank. . .
Oxford Book of Light Verse, The. W. H. Auden, ed. (1938)
“The bells they sound on Bredon,
And still the steeples hum.
“Come all to church, good people,—”
Oh, noisy bells, be dumb;
I hear you, I will come.”
—A.E. (Alfred Edward)
“The Church disowned, the tower overthrown, the bells upturned, what have we to do
But stand with empty hands and palms turned upwards
In an age which advances progressively backwards?”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)