The south-west tower bells: technical details

The south-west tower contains a ring of fourteen bells (including flat 6th and extra treble) and a chime of eleven bells.

Click here for details of the ring.
Click here for details of the chime.

The Ring of Twelve (plus Flat 6th and Extra Treble)

The bells set up in their frame at the bellfoundry, prior to installation

Extra Treble

waist: (a) AMICUM MINISTERII EBOR: D. D. / AMICI NECNON C. H. / A. D. MCMLXXVIII / (Taylor mark in wreath) / 1978
(30 5/8", 8-2-26)

Treble

crown: (a) 191
inscription band: (a) CAMPANA SANCTAE HILD VOCOR (b) (vine leaf border)
upper waist: (border of gothic arcading)
mid waist: (a) ME REFECERVNS GEORGIVS AVSTEN. / CANCALLARIVS EBOR: ET ALICIA / AGNES. VXOR EJVS. A. D. MCMXXV. (b) (Taylor mark in roundel)
(31", 8-0-4)

2nd

crown: (a) 166
inscription band: (a) CAMPANA BEATI WILLELMI EBOR: (b) (vine leaf border)
upper waist: (border of gothic arcading)
mid waist: (a) ME CAMPANARVM PVLSATORES / EBORACENSES XIV REFECERVNT. / MCMXXV. / (b) (Taylor mark in roundel)
(32 7/8", 8-2-23)

3rd

crown: (b) 221
inscription band: CANTATE DOMINO CANTICVM NOVVM (b) (vine leaf border)
upper waist: (border of gothic arcading)
mid waist: (a) ME REFECERVNT / ROBERTVS STANLEY PEARSON / (IN EXERCITV REGIO MAJOR) / ET ETHEL, VXOR EJVS. MCMXXV. / (b) (Taylor mark in roundel)
(33 7/8", 10-3-6)

4th

crown: (b) 142
inscription band: (vine leaf border)
upper waist: (border of gothic arcading)
mid waist: (a) IN MEMORIAM DILECTAM / DAVID SANDERSON LONG, M. D., / ME REFECIT EJVS VIDVA / ISABEL LONG. MCMXXV. / (b) (Taylor mark in roundel)
(36", 10-1-24)

5th

crown: (b) 137
inscription band: (vine leaf border)
upper waist: (border of gothic arcading)
mid waist: (a) IN MEMORIAM DILECTAM CAROLI HAWKINS / ET JOHANNIS BAILLIE, VIRI PATRICII, / CANONICORVM EBORACENSIVM, ME / REFECERVNT POSTERI EORVM. MCMXXV. / (b) (Taylor mark in roundel)
(38¼", 11-2-19)

6th

crown: (b) 188
inscription band: (a) SVRSVM CORDA (b) (vine leaf border)
upper waist: (border of gothic arcading)
mid waist: (a) ME FECERVNT ARTVRVS HENRICVS / BARRON, CAPITVLI EBOR: CLERICVS / ET ANNA MARIA, VXOR EJVS. MCMXXV. / (b) (Taylor mark in roundel)
(38¾", 11-2-15)

Flat 6th

crown: (a) 160
inscription band: (a) EXALTABO TE DOMINE I (vine leaf border) (b) A. D. MCMXXV. (vine leaf border)
upper waist: (border of gothic arcading)
mid waist: (b) (Taylor mark in roundel)
(40 11/16", 13-2-18)

7th

crown: (b) 168
inscription band: (a) VENITE EXVLTEMVS DOMINO (b) (vine leaf border)
upper waist: (border of gothic arcading)
mid waist: (a) ME REFECIT JOHANNES CROSS. / MCMXXV. / (b) (Taylor mark in roundel)
(41 13/16", 14-0-13)

8th

crown: (a) 225
inscription band: (vine leaf border)
upper waist: (border of gothic arcading)
mid waist: (a) IN MEMORIAM DILECTAM JOHANNIS / FREDERICI LORD, PRESBYTERI, ME / REFECERVNT VIDVA EJVS ET FILIVS. / MCMXXV. / (b) (Taylor mark in roundel)
(46 1/16", 17-3-12)

9th

crown: (a) 162
inscription band: (a) SONATE DEVM TOTVS ORBIS (b) (oak leaf border)
upper waist: (border of large gothic arcading)
mid waist: (a) ME REFECIT ARTVRVS NEVILE COOPER, / CANONICVS. / MCMXXV. / (b) (large Taylor mark in roundel)
(50½", 24-3-0)

10th

crown: (a) 271
inscription band: (a) TE DEVM LAVDAMVS (oak leaf border) (b) JTERVM FVSA A. D. MCMXXV (Oak leaf border)
upper waist: (border of large gothic arcading)
mid waist: (b) (large Taylor mark in roundel)
(53¾", 30-1-21)

11th

crown: (a) 329
inscription band: GAVDEAMVS IN DOMINO (oak leaf border) (b) JTERVM FVSA A. D. MCMXXV (oak leaf border)
upper waist: (border of large gothic arcading)
mid waist: (a) IN MEMORIAM DILECTAM / VIRI FIDELIS ET HONORABILIS / JOHANNIS THOMAE SUTCLIFFE / DE MAYROYD ME REFECIT / J. SUTCLIFFE THOMAS / FRATER EJUS. / (b) (large Taylor mark in roundel)
(60¼", 40-1-24)

Tenor

inscription band: GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO (oak leaf border) (b) JTERVM FVSA A. D. MCMXXV (oak leaf border)
upper waist: (border of large gothic arcading)
mid waist: (b) (large Taylor mark in roundel)
(68", 59-1-23 in Bb-38 [456 Hz])

Bells 1-8 are inscribed in Gothic lettering throughout, except for the casting numbers on their crowns which are in Roman script. The inscription band inscriptions on bells 9-12 are in 'South Somercotes' lettering. The remainder of the inscriptions on these four bells are in gothic script, with the exception of the casting numbers which are all in Roman lettering and the inscription on side 'a' of the waist of the 11th, which is incised and is in Roman script; the 'AE' in 'THOMAE' are conjoined. That this portion of the inscription is incised suggests that the donor did not come forward until after the bell had actually been cast.

The bells were all cast flat-topped with the exception of the treble and 2nd, which originally had flange tops. These are circular discs of metal cast on top of and as part of the bell, attached by a hollow central pillar (though which the staple bolt passes), and four subsidiary pillars. In the case of the treble, these subsidiary pillars were circular in section; those to the 2nd were triangular. Four holes in the flange top allowed the bell to be bolted to its headstock. The flange tops were removed in 1998, with that from the 2nd being preserved in the ringing chamber. Prior to their removal the two bells weighed 8-2-5 and 9-0-4 respectively.

None of the bells have been turned on their headstocks. As cast, prior to tuning, the bells weighed as follows:

Extra Treble		9-1-23
Treble		10-0-2
2nd		9-3-22
3rd		12-1-21
4th		12-1-3
5th		12-2-22
6th		12-2-3
Flat 6th		14-1-12
7th		15-2-0
8th		19-0-23
9th		29-2-12
10th		37-1-20
11th		43-3-7
Tenor		72-2-1

The tenor sounded the note C-45, and was the first of seventeen large Bb bell to date which Taylor’s have cast to this design. Andrew Higson, current Bell Master at Taylor’s, believes that the bell was cast so over-weight because it was the first to be cast using a new strickle, and it was easier to tune a lot out of the bell than to risk it coming out flat and having to recast it. As more bells like it were cast, confidence increased and the ‘as cast’ weights decreased to around 65 cwt. A similar level of caution was displayed 23 years earlier, when a new tenor bell for Exeter Cathedral (also Bb, although somewhat larger) was cast. This came out of the mould at 81-0-12 and was despatched at 72-2-2.

The 1925 bells are all tuned within 1 cent of equal temperament with the following exceptions: 3rd is +2.9, Flat 6th is +1.1, 8th is +2, 10th is +2.9, 11th is +2.2. The tuning is therefore extremely accurate. A visual examination of the bells shows that all of them have been heavily cut on the tuning machine.

The 8th is notably shorter in the waist and flatter in the crown than the other bells because it was moulded using a Mark I gauge, whereas the other bells were moulded using Mark II gauges. Taylor’s changed from one to the other during the 1920s, and at the point when the Minster bells were cast the Mark I gauge for a bell of the 8th’s size was still in use.

The fittings to all fourteen bells comprise cast iron headstocks, ball bearings (with those to the back three bells being in large split housings), traditional wheels, Hastings stays and radius slides. The clappers currently in use are a mixture of wrought iron, SG cast iron and composite simber / EN16, and all hang from independent staples. The fittings are all by Taylor’s and contemporary with their respective bells with the following exceptions:

The headstocks of the treble and 2nd are by Fred Pembleton and of 1998. These two bells were rehung on new arched cast iron flange-top retaining headstocks by Taylor's in 1991 in an attempt to tuck them up and correct errors in the timing of their swing (they were too fast). Although this was successful the percussive impact of the clappers was lessened and as a result weights had to be attached to their flights; this caused the clappers to break frequently. It was therefore decided that the only permanent solution to the problem was to remove the flange tops and rehang the two bells on straight headstocks. This work was duly carried out in 1998 by Fred Pembleton, who cut off the flange tops and drilled holes for bell-bolts without removing the bells from the tower. He supplied new cast iron headstocks and crown staples for them but reused all of the other fittings, including the bearings and housings supplied by Taylor’s with the new headstocks of 1991. The original treble headstock of 1925/6, complete with its bearings, is now fitted to the 4th of the six-bell chime at Wheldrake, just outside York.

Most of the bearings and many of the gudgeons have been replaced at various times by Taylor's. The tenor's bearings were replaced by local ringers and members of the Minster Works Department in 1980, with the bell being lifted using three hydraulic jacks borrowed from two local bus companies for the purpose; the new bearings were supplied by Taylor’s.

When the Minster bells were first installed, Taylor's used two different types of experimental counterbalanced clapper in them. A patent covering both types was taken out in 1924, and both types are illustrated on p.118 of Trevor Jennings' The Development of British Bell Fittings. The five largest bells had elongated crown staples which accommodated clappers with a counterbalance shaped like a quarter of a cheese welded to the clapper heads by the narrow end of the counterweight. These were designed to ease ringing the bells up with the clapper on the right side, and were a good idea where they worked. In practice, the counterweight frequently fell off due to the weld between it and the clapper head fracturing. I believe the York installation was the first time that these clappers were used, but they were subsequently employed by Taylor's in the larger bells of a number of other roughly contemporary installations, including the new ring cast for Worcester Cathedral in 1928.

The four trebles were fitted with a different type of counterbalanced clapper. In this design, the staple shank was elongated and the clapper pivot was lowered to part-way down the bell. A cross piece was clamped to the clapper shank at right-angles to it and parallel to the swing of the bell. Weights were attached to the ends of this cross piece, and were fixed in such a manner that that they were above the bar and consequently mostly above the clapper pivot. The intended purpose of these clappers was to equalise the timing of swing between the bell and the clapper, but in practice they just made the bell strike too quickly.

I know of nowhere other than York where these clappers were used (The four trebles cast in 1927 to augment the bells at Lincoln Cathedral to twelve do not have them, neither do any of the front bells at Worcester Cathedral where the complete ring was cast in 1928). At York the clappers caused such problems with timing that in the early 1980s they were replaced with new clappers and crown staples of conventional type. Subsequently the original wrought iron clappers were modified to convert them to standard design and were replaced in the bells: they remain in use today.

The remaining bells (5, 6, 6b and 7) had wrought iron clappers of standard design, and the clapper supplied with the extra treble in 1979 was of the same type.

The clappers currently in use are either wrought iron or SG cast iron with the exception of the tenor, which has a composite clapper comprising a timber (ash) shaft with an EN16 steel ball and flight. The clappers are of various dates and are the work of several makers, including Taylor’s, Whitechapel, Whites of Appleton and Fred Pembleton.

The bells were originally fitted with direct-action Ellacombe hammers, but these caused numerous problems and were removed when the Nelson bells (see below) were installed in 1989. Some of the larger hammers are now fitted to the clock bells at Hull Guildhall. Clock hammers were also fitted to the 5th, 9th and tenor, but were transferred to the Nelson bells following the installation of the latter.

The bells hang on one level in a massive cast iron 'H' frame by Taylor's, most of which dates from 1925/6. When the extra treble was installed in 1979 it was hung in the treble's former pit and the front three of the twelve were shunted round one place in the frame, with the 3rd being moved into a new single-bell cast iron lowside frame installed in the south-west corner of the tower. In 1989 the lowside frame was replaced by an ‘H’ frame: this was accomplished by moving the outer ‘H’ casting of the 4th’s pit along to the end of the 3rd’s pit and inserting a new ‘H’ casting between the 3rd and 4th. The lowside pit was given to Holy Trinity Church, Hull, where it was used in 1990 to house the sharp 2nd installed there in that year. At the same time as the 3rd’s pit was converted, the outer frameside of the 8th was replaced. This had become fractured on 30th July 1988 as a result of an accident with an Ellacombe hammer, and had been temporarily plated by the Minster Works Department to allow ringing to continue.

The current layout of the frame is as follows: The extra treble, treble and 2nd swing north-south along the south wall of the tower; the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and flat 6th swing east-west along the west wall; the 7th and 8th swing north-south along the north wall; the 10th and 11th swing north-south along the east wall; and the 9th and tenor swing east-west in the centre.

The Chime of Eleven

The chiming bells

Treble

crown: (b) 305
inscription band: (a) ALLELUIA (b) (bell and pomegranate border)
waist: (a) GIVEN BY / THE CHILDREN / (b) (Taylor mark in rectangular border) / 1933
(22 9/16", 2-1-16)

2nd

crown: (b) 196
inscription band: (a) WE CALL UPON THEE (b) (bell and pomegranate border)
waist: (a) GIVEN BY / TEXTILE WORKERS / (b) (Taylor mark in rectangular border) / 1933
(24 5/8", 2-3-26)

3rd

crown: (b) 150
inscription band: (a) WE ADORE THEE (b) (rose decoration border)
waist: (a) GIVEN (Coat of Arms of) BY /
              MAYORS (Town of Nelson) OF NELSON /
WILLIAM JACKSON J. P., M. D., 1901-3 / SIR AMOS NELSON J. P. 1903-6 / ALBERT SMITH D. L., J. P. 1908-10 / SAMUEL DAVIES J. P. 1910-12 / WILLIAM EDWARD RILEY J. P. 1912-14 / WILLIAM BELL O. B. E., J. P. 1914-16 / ROBERT WILLIAM GIBSON 1920-22 / JAMES HENRY SUTHERLAND AITKEN C. C. 1925-27 / RICHARD WINTERBOTTOM 1927-31 / RICHARD JOSEPH HUSBAND 1931-33 / (b) (Taylor mark in rectangular border) / 1933
(26 15/16", 3-3-19)

4th

crown: (a) 186
inscription band: (a) WE TRUST IN THEE (b) (rose decoration border)
waist: (a) GIVEN BY / FRIENDS OF S. MARY'S / (b) 19 (Taylor mark in wreath) 33
(28½", 4-1-26)

5th

crown: (a) 276
inscription band: (a) WE REJOICE IN THEE (b) (rose decoration border)
waist: (a) GIVEN IN PIOUS MEMORY / OF ALL / FOUNDERS / OF / S. MARY'S CHURCH / & CONGREGATION / (b) 19 (Taylor mark in wreath) 33
(31 9/16", 6-0-2)

6th

crown: (a) 140
inscription band: (a) WE GIVE THANKS TO THEE (b) (rose decoration border)
waist: (a) GIVEN BY / ALBERT HENRY CANDLER / FIFTH VICAR / & / THOMAS BARDSLEY / VICAR'S WARDEN / (b) 19 (Taylor mark in wreath) 33
(34 13/16", 7-3-26)

Sharp 7th

crown: (b) 201
inscription band: (a) WE GLORIFY THEE (b) (rose decoration border)
waist: (a) PROSPERITY / GIVEN BY / TRADESPEOPLE / OF THE PARISH / & TOWN / (b) 19 (Taylor mark in wreath) 33
(36 13/16", 9-2-26)

7th

inscription band: (a) WE WORSHIP THEE (b) (rose decoration border)
waist: (a) TOWNSMEN'S / GIVEN BY / TOWNSPEOPLE / OF NELSON / (b) 19 (Taylor mark in wreath) 33
(39 1/16", 10-3-21)

8th

crown: (b) 199
inscription band: (a) WE BLESS THEE (b) (rose decoration border)
waist: (a) GIVEN BY THE / CONGREGATION / (b) 19 (Taylor mark in roundel) 33
(41 7/16", 13-0-11)

9th

crown: (a) 225
inscription band: (a) WE ACKNOWLEDGE THEE (b) (rose decoration border)
waist: (a) WALTON / GIVEN BY / HENRY MANCKNOLS WALTON / TRUSTEE / (b) 19 (Taylor mark in roundel) 33
(45 13/16", 17-2-12)

Tenor

crown: (a) 162
inscription band: (a) WE PRAISE THEE O GOD (b) (rose decoration border)
waist: (a) ORMEROD / TO THE GLORY OF GOD / THIS BELL / THE FOUNDATION OF THE PEAL / WAS GIVEN BY THE LATE / ANN ORMEROD / IN LOVING MEMORY / OF HER HUSBAND / JOHN / (b) 19 (Taylor mark in roundel) 33
(51 1/8", 23-3-19 in D-17½)

The chiming bells were transferred from the redundant St Mary's Church, Nelson, Lancashire, in 1989. All eleven bells are flat-topped and the front three are missing the moulding wires at the bottom of their soundbow, a peculiarity often found in smaller Taylor bells of this period (other examples include the treble at Leeds Parish Church, the treble at Ripon Cathedral and the back four bells at Clifton, York). The 3rd also has breaks in the moulding wires at the bottom of the inscription band and at the junction of the waist and soundbow, necessary to enable its long inscription to be fitted in. All of the bells have been quite heavily machine tuned, and are of fine tone. When installed at the Minster they were positioned so that their clappers strike on a previously unworn part of the soundbow, and it would appear that the tenor had previously been turned at some point as it has two redundant clapper scars.

The bells are fitted with internal carillon-type chiming clappers on independent staples (some of which are offset), attached to a directional quadrant transmission and played from a clavier situated behind the 10th and 11th boxes in the ringing chamber. The transmission was new when the bells were installed at the Minster; at Nelson they were fitted with a roller-bar type transmission. Of the original fittings, only the clappers and the adjusters from the old wall-mounted clavier (which was itself irreparably damaged) were reused when the bells were transferred to York. The present free-standing clavier was made by a local craftsman, Ian Palfreeman, and has since been modified by David Town of Northallerton.

The bells hang in a frame built onto the top of the south-east corner of the ringing 'H' frame. The structure of the frame is of bolted and riveted RSJs, with the bells hanging from double-channel deadstocks. There are three deadstocks: the top one holds bells 1-4; the second one, immediately below, holds bells 5, 6, 7# and 7; and the third one, behind the second, holds the three largest bells. The framework is by Taylor's and is contemporary with the bells themselves, having been transferred from Nelson.

The 3rd, 7th and tenor of the chime are fitted with clock hammers, which were formerly fitted to the ringing bells but were transferred to the Nelson bells by local clock maker Geoff Newey following the installation of the latter. Until the provision of the new clock bells in the north-western tower in 2000 these hammers struck ting-tang quarters and the hour, being operated by the clock situated in the chamber below the present ringing chamber. This clock is of 1842 and was made by John Moore and Sons, of Clerkenwell, London; work to it has been carried out by T. Cooke of York in 1846, G.J.F. Newey of York in 1928, and R. Newey and Son of York in 1960. The clock is still in working order, but the striking train has been turned off since the installation of the clock bells. However, it is intended in the near future to have the Moore clock strike for a few hours every morning and evening instead of the main clock chime.

When the scheme to install the quarter bells in the north-western tower was underway it was also proposed to augment the Nelson chime and accordingly quotes for various numbers of additional bells were obtained from Taylor’s, Hayward Mills and Eijsbouts (via Eayre and Smith). It would have been necessary to extend the framework and replace the clavier. It was also proposed to fit a computerised player with electro-magnetic hammers to the enlarged instrument. Unfortunately, none of this went ahead.

Shortly after the Nelson chime was installed a set of industrial steel walkways was constructed on top of the main 'H' frame. These provide a viewing gallery, access to the chime, and somewhere safe to stand when turning the clappers of the 11th and tenor of the ring.

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