Lichfield Cathedral
The Close, Lichfield WS13 7LD
Contact: Daniel Munday (07495 896506)
32 Thacker Drive, Lichfield WS13 6NS
Email: bells@lichfield-cathedral.org
Practice night: Monday 19:45
Sunday service: 09:30 - 10:25, 14:15 - 14:55
History
The first ring of bells in the Cathedral was a heavy ring of six (37-0-3) cast by Richard Keene of Woodstock and hung in 1670-3. At the time, they were the fifth heaviest ring of six after Sherborne Abbey (52-0-23), Wells Cathedral (51-3-4), Queen Camel (39½) and St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol (39-0-0). In 1688, Henry Bagley cast one of the earliest complete rings of ten to replace the six. Over the next two hundred years several of these required recasting. The bells were finally recast by John Taylor in 1947, at the expense of the Staffordshire Freemasons to commemorate the end of the Second World War, although they were rehung in the original frame. Much remedial work on this ancient ten-bell frame has been required in recent years.