One of the best things about Wellington is the Cathedral bells and of course the band who ring them. Far more information can be found at the excellent Wellington Combined Society of Bellringers page, which also discusses our two other local towers: the ring of 5 at Old St Paul’s, and the 8 at St Peter’s, Willis Street. But by way of explaining just these few photographs, here goes…
We have 14 tower bells as well as a mini-ring of 8. Seven of the tower bells came from St Edmund’s in Northampton when it closed; we’ve added 7 others over the years to make a complete 12 plus an extra ‘flat 6’ and ‘sharp treble’, meaning we can ring various scales of 6, 8, 10 and 12 pleasantly in tune.
With the St Edmunds bells came their ‘peal boards’; these now adorn our walls alongside a few that our band has added to them. Our tower has a lift (a rare treat!) and the ringing room is big enough to have a corner with comfortable chairs and a coffee table. And we have a decent array of computers, with simulator and training software. Yes, it’s pretty good here! (And we welcome visitors, whether or not they can ring bells.)
Here are a couple of ‘stills’ taken from recent video of our ringing band; they include a couple of visitors:
Here are some historic photos from around 1983 showing the construction work when the bells were installed and the belfry was created:
And here are some of the people who were involved in the project:
Lastly here are some other photos from around the same time from other churches and locations, including St Peter’s Willis Street, Old St Paul’s and a couple of unknown English churches.:
