Bell Tower - The Cathedral Church of St. Mary and St. Ethelbert - Hereford, Herefordshire - Bell Towers on Waymarking.com

"The Cathedral church is of great historical importance, and the best way to learn more about it is to make a visit and read through the guide books. The central tower dates from c1300-1310, and the tower door is in the west corner of the north transept. There are many steps up to the ringing chamber, and all sorts of walkways and passageways to climb up. Once inside the ringing chamber, you will quickly notice the huge beams which obscure the view across the ringing chamber. It is almost impossible to see some of the other ringers while ringing. The bells are immediately above the ringing chamber floor, and are not easy to ring. There is a diagonal beam which makes the 4th tricky, and the back bells require good handling to ring them properly. The sallies go through the ceiling and onto the wheels at backstroke, and can jump when pulled back down. The acoustics are poor, since all you can clearly hear is a loud clonk as your own bell speaks, and the other bells are quite distant and indistinct. The back bells tend to drown out the front bells when they ring close together. No other bells by the founder of the 6th are known, although it may be that S. Banastre was the donor, not the founder as the inscription states.

1. Mears and Stainbank, London, 1892, 6-0-9
2. Abraham Rudhall I, Gloucester, 1698, 5-0-22
3. Abraham Rudhall I, Gloucester, 1698, 6-1-8
4. Abraham Rudhall I, Gloucester, 1697, 6-1-26
5. Mears and Stainbank, London, 1865, 8-3-23
6. S Banastre (?), c1350, 13-2-19
7. Abraham Rudhall I, Gloucester, 1697, 13-2-26
8. Mears and Stainbank, London, 1953, 17-1-9
9. William Warwick, Bristol Foundry, c1450-1480, 26-1-26
10. Thomas Gefferies (?), Bristol Foundry, c1500, 33-3-21 in C"

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Hereford, Herefs Cath Ch of BVM and S Ethelbert
Bells
Bell	Weight	Nominal	Note	Diameter	Dated	Founder	Canons	Turning
1	6-0-9	1404.0	E#	28.88"	1892	Mears & Stainbank	Y	N
2	5-0-22	1233.0	D#	29.63"	1698	Abraham I Rudhall	R	4
3	6-1-8	1112.0	C#	31.13"	1698	Abraham I Rudhall	Y	N
4	6-1-26	1037.0	B#	32.23"	1697	Abraham I Rudhall	Y	4
5	8-3-23	929.5	A#	35.75"	1865	Mears & Stainbank	Y	N
6	13-2-19	824.5	G#	40.38"	c1350†	Stephen Banastre	Y	4
7	13-2-26	735.0	F#	43.00"	1697	Abraham I Rudhall	Y	4
8	17-1-9	684.5	E#	45.88"	1953	Mears & Stainbank	F	N
9	26-1-26	608.5	D#	52.25"	c1450†	William Warwick	R	4
10	33-3-21	548.0	C#	59.00"	c1500†	Thomas Gefferies	R	4

Frames
Frame	Bells	Year	Material	Maker	Truss	Layout
1	1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10	c1699	Oak	unidentified

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"The building of the church at Hereford was carried on throughout the first half of the 12th century and was finished (Anglia Sacra) under Bishop Robert de Bethune (1131–48); this work included the nave and aisles and probably a central tower.

The Central Tower was built early in the 14th century and rises two stages above the crossing. The lower stage is now open to the church and has on the internal faces an open stone grille, formed of heavy mullions; each face has thirteen lights with square heads and transom, and all narrow except the middle one, which is 1 ft. 5 in. wide. Level with the heads of the lights is a modern wooden ceiling. A wall-passage, 2½ ft. wide, runs round this stage and has in each outer wall a doorway with chamfered jambs and two-centred arch, opening into the roof-spaces of the presbytery, transepts and nave. Higher up, the outer wall, on each side of the stage, has two windows, flanked externally by blind windows, making four in all, and each of two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in a two-centred head; these windows are divided externally by tall raised panels with pointed heads, the middle panel being divided into two pointed 'lights' with a quatrefoil above.

Between the lower stage and the bell-chamber is a moulded external string-course, and above it a band of lozenge-shaped quatrefoils.

The bell-chamber has in each wall two windows flanked by blind windows, as in the stage below, but with cinquefoils in the heads and all finished with gables; between the windows are panels as in the stage below, but finished with gabled heads; above these heads runs a moulded cornice and a modern embattled parapet. This stage has also a wall-passage communicating with the bell-chamber, by two pointed arches in each wall. Each angle of the tower contains a staircase, but only that on the N.W. is carried up to the roof; the turret-staircases are covered externally by a pair of buttresses of 'cut-water' plan, with panelled faces; the panels are finished, at the head of the lower stage, with heads similar to those of the middle panels between the windows; the cornice and band of lozenges, between the stages, are continued round the buttresses and half-way up the upper stage the buttresses are tabled back on to the tower leaving the outer section of each to be carried up as a lozenge-shaped pinnacle; these pinnacles have panelled faces and restored tops. The tower is decorated with a profusion of ball-flower ornament, which appears in the mouldings of the window-jambs, panels, buttresses, string-courses and labels. The four main pinnacles of the tower were completed in 1830."

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Address of Tower: Hereford Cathedral 5 College Cloisters Cathedral Close Hereford, Herefordshire England HR1 2NG Still Operational: yes Number of bells in tower?: 10 Relevant website?: [Web Link] Rate tower: Not listed Tours or visits allowed in tower?: Not listed

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Date Logged Log   08/30/2021 Beach_hut visited it