Bell Tower - Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Lincoln, Lincolnshire - Bell Towers on Waymarking.com

Bell towers of the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Lincoln.

Lincoln, Lincolnshire Cath Ch of BVM
Bells
Bell	Weight	Nominal	Note	Diameter	Dated	Founder	Canons	Turning
1	5-0-2	1804.0	A	25.00"	1927	John Taylor & Co	F	N
2	5-0-15	1604.0	G	26.00"	1927	John Taylor & Co	F	N
3	5-0-2	1516.0	F#	26.44"	1927	John Taylor & Co	F	N
4	4-2-10	1350.0	E	27.38"	1927	John Taylor & Co	F	N
5	5-1-26	1201.0	D	29.00"	1913	John Taylor & Co	F	N
6	5-2-11	1132.0	C#	30.13"	1913	John Taylor & Co	F	N
7	6-1-11	1008.0	B	32.00"	1913	John Taylor & Co	F	N
8	7-3-2	900.0	A	35.00"	1913	John Taylor & Co	F	N
9	10-1-7	801.0	G	38.38"	1913	John Taylor & Co	F	N
10	12-1-25	756.0	F#	40.88"	1913	John Taylor & Co	F	N
11	16-2-11	674.0	E	45.50"	1913	John Taylor & Co	F	N
12	23-3-13	600.0	D	51.50"	1913	John Taylor & Co	F	N
6b	6-0-12	1070.0	C	31.07"	1948	John Taylor & Co	F	N
Service	14-0-21	745.0	F#	42.75"	1606†	Henry II Oldfield	Y	4
Service 2	16-1-7	660.0	E	45.75"	1593†	Quernby & Oldfield	Y	4
Clock1	10-3-26		C#	35.63"	1880	John Taylor & Co	Y	N
Clock2	12-2-22		B	37.94"	1880	John Taylor & Co	Y	N
Clock3	13-0-14		A	39.38"	1880	John Taylor & Co	Y	N
Clock4	27-2-7		E	51.38"	1880	John Taylor & Co	Y	N
Bourdon	108cwt	447.0	A	82.25"	1835	Thomas II Mears	Y	N

Frames
Frame	Bells	Year	Material	Maker	Truss	Layout
1	1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,6b	1927 [1948]	Steel & cast iron	Loughborough Bellfoundry [Loughborough Bellfoundry]	8.3.A.h
2	Service,Service 2		Steel	unidentified
3	Clock1,Clock2,Clock3,Clock4,Bourdon	1835	Oak	unidentified

SOURCE - (Visit Link)

"Remigius built the first Lincoln Cathedral on the present site, finishing it in 1092 and then dying on 7 May of that year, two days before it was consecrated. In 1124, the timber roofing was destroyed in a fire. Alexander (bishop, 1123–48) rebuilt and expanded the cathedral, but it was mostly destroyed by an earthquake about forty years later, in 1185. The earthquake was one of the largest felt in the UK: it has an estimated magnitude of over 5. The damage to the cathedral is thought to have been very extensive: the Cathedral is described as having "split from top to bottom"; in the current building, only the lower part of the west end and its two attached towers remain of the pre-earthquake cathedral. Some (Kidson, 1986; Woo, 1991) have suggested that the damage to Lincoln Cathedral was probably exaggerated by poor construction or design; with the actual collapse most probably caused by a vault failure.

After the earthquake, a new bishop was appointed. He was Hugh de Burgundy of Avalon, France, who became known as St Hugh of Lincoln. He began a massive rebuilding and expansion programme. With his appointment of William de Montibus as master of the cathedral school and chancellor, Lincoln briefly became one of the leading educational centres in England, producing writers such as Samuel Presbiter and Richard of Wetheringsett, though it declined in importance after William's death in 1213. Rebuilding began with the choir (St Hugh's Choir) and the eastern transepts between 1192 and 1210. The central nave was then built in the Early English Gothic style. Lincoln Cathedral soon followed other architectural advances of the time — pointed arches, flying buttresses and ribbed vaulting were added to the cathedral. This allowed support for incorporating larger windows. There are thirteen bells in the south-west tower, two in the north-west tower, and five in the central tower (including Great Tom). Accompanying the cathedral's large bell, Great Tom of Lincoln, is a quarter-hour striking clock. The clock was installed in the early 19th century. The two large stained glass rose windows, the matching Dean's Eye and Bishop's Eye, were added to the cathedral during the late Middle Ages. The former, the Dean's Eye in the north transept dates from the 1192 rebuild begun by St Hugh, finally being completed in 1235. The latter, the Bishop's Eye, in the south transept was reconstructed a hundred years later in 1330. A contemporary record, “The Metrical Life of St Hugh”, refers to the meaning of these two windows (one on the dark, north, side and the other on the light, south, side of the building):

"For north represents the devil, and south the Holy Spirit and it is in these directions that the two eyes look. The bishop faces the south in order to invite in and the dean the north in order to shun; the one takes care to be saved, the other takes care not to perish. With these Eyes the cathedral's face is on watch for the candelabra of Heaven and the darkness of Lethe (oblivion)."

After the additions of the Dean's eye and other major Gothic additions it is believed some mistakes in the support of the tower occurred, for in 1237 the main tower collapsed. A new tower was soon started and in 1255 the Cathedral petitioned Henry III to allow them to take down part of the town wall to enlarge and expand the Cathedral, including the rebuilding of the central tower and spire. They replaced the small rounded chapels (built at the time of St Hugh) with a larger east end to the cathedral. This was to handle the increasing number of pilgrims to the Cathedral, who came to worship at the shrine of Hugh of Lincoln.

In 1290 Eleanor of Castile died and King Edward I of England decided to honour her, his Queen Consort, with an elegant funeral procession. After her body had been embalmed, which in the 13th century involved evisceration, Eleanor's viscera were buried in Lincoln cathedral and Edward placed a duplicate of the Westminster Abbey tomb there. The Lincoln tomb's original stone chest survives; its effigy was destroyed in the 17th century and replaced with a 19th-century copy. On the outside of Lincoln Cathedral are two prominent statues often identified as Edward and Eleanor, but these images were heavily restored in the 19th century and they were probably not originally intended to depict the couple.

Between 1307 and 1311 the central tower was raised to its present height of 271 feet (83 m). The western towers and front of the cathedral were also improved and heightened. At this time, a tall lead-encased wooden spire topped the central tower but was blown down in a storm in 1548. With its spire, the tower reputedly reached a height of 525 feet (160 m) (which would have made it the world's tallest structure, surpassing the Great Pyramid of Giza, which held the record for almost 4,000 years). Although there is dissent, this height is agreed by most sources. Other additions to the cathedral at this time included its elaborate carved screen and the 14th-century misericords, as was the Angel Choir. For a large part of the length of the cathedral, the walls have arches in relief with a second layer in front to give the illusion of a passageway along the wall. However the illusion does not work, as the stonemason, copying techniques from France, did not make the arches the correct length needed for the illusion to be effective."

SOURCE - (Visit Link)

Address of Tower: Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary Minster Yard Lincoln, Lincolnshire England LN2 1PX Still Operational: yes Number of bells in tower?: 20 Relevant website?: [Web Link] Rate tower: Tours or visits allowed in tower?: Yes

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Date Logged Log   10/03/2018 Master Mariner visited it