St Martin's
Guild of Bell Ringers for the Diocese of
Birmingham
Birmingham, RC
Cathedral Church of St. Chad
8 Bells 15-3-6 in F
Peals
rung on the bells (Peals database William Hall)
Peals
rung on the bells (Felstead)
In paradisum in medio eius
suspendimus organa nostra
The Cathedral is equipped with a
beautiful set of bells hung for full-circle ringing in
the North-West Tower. The eight bells form a diatonic
octave in the key of F Major , with the heaviest bell
( the tenor ) weighing 15 cwt. 3 qr. & 6 lb. The
old ring of eight bells were re-cast and re-hung in
1939/40 by the Taylor company of Loughborough,
Leicestershire, to form the present set which were
re-dedicated on February 14th 1940, and first rung on
March 2nd 1940 .
In 1840 a single bell weighing some
17-20 cwt. was presented to the cathedral by The
Catholic Friendly Society who required that it should
"be tolled on the decease of every member" .
This bell , which was hung in the South - West tower ,
was removed after eight years and used to provide
metal for a new ring of five bells, cast by Mears of
London, which were hung in the North - West tower .
These five bells were subsequently augmented to form
the 'old eight' by the addition of three light bells,
supplied by Blews of Birmingham, in 1877, and these
eight bells first rang out across the city on Easter
Sunday of that year .
The Cathedral bells are rung
regularly by THE SAINT CHAD'S CATHEDRAL SOCIETY OF
CHANGE RINGERS . The society, which has been in
existence in some form or other at least since 1877,
if not earlier , was re-constituted circa 1967, with
the endorsement of the Cathedral Administrator, Canon
( later Bishop ) Leo McCartie, as an ecumenical group
committed to providing and maintaining ringing of the
highest standard on a regular basis at Saint Chad's
Cathedral .
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