The Bells

There are twelve bells in the North West Tower hung for traditional Change Ringing. While there are a number of churches and cathedrals that have twelve bells, they are not that common and it is certainly rare to have bells of such a size.

St Paul's has the second largest ring of bells in the world that are hung for change ringing. They are just over 125 years old and were given by the Corporation and a number of the City livery companies. The smallest bell, known as the Treble, weighs just over half a ton, while the largest, known as the Tenor, weighs over 3 tons (62 cwt). Bells are always measured by their weight in hundredweights, quarters and pounds. The St Paul's ring is in the key of B flat.

Inauguration of the new peal of bells at St Paul's Cathedral: Images from 'The Pictorial World', 9th Nov 1878. 1) Entrance to the Belfry 2) Back View of the Apostles 3)Daylight at Last 4) A Side Peep going up 5) The Bells

The Bells today

In addition to the twelve bells in the North West tower, there is the original service bell affectionately known as The Banger. This was cast by Philip Wightman in 1700 when the building of the West towers was completed. It remained alone for 178 years until the ring of twelve bells was cast in 1878. The Banger is still regularly rung to this day prior to the 08:00 Eucharist.

The South West Tower houses Great Paul, the largest bell in the British Isles. She weighs 16½ tons and is larger than Big Ben. One can hear Great Paul booming out over Ludgate Hill at 13:00 every day. To give an impression of the size, the image below shows our former Dean, Dr John Moses, standing next to the giant Headstock of Great Paul.

Change Ringing

Twelve bells means that there will be twelve ringers on the end of the ropes; one ringer per bell. It takes a considerable amount of time to learn to ring a bell. There is the physical aspect to learn; one has to feel the bell's movements through the tensions in the rope and respond accordingly.

There is also a mental aspect to be mastered. Change ringing is not based upon musical notation but on numerical principles. Each bell is given a number or letter (1-12) and a change is a sequence of these numbers where each bell rings once. The order or sequence is changed and each bell rings again. The graph below represents a 'method', a set pattern of changes that is learnt by the ringer. The position of individual bells within the change is marked by blue and red lines and many ringers learn the path of these lines to master the method. This method is for eight bells.