Wells Cathedral (Part Twenty-Four).

The Great West Front,

Wells Cathedral.

Photo: 30 April 2014.

Source: Own work.

Attribution:

Photo by DAVID ILIFF.

Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

Author: Diliff

(Wikimedia Commons)

Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

The Clock has its original Mediæval face. Apart from the time on a twenty-four hour dial, it shows the motion of the Sun and Moon, the phases of the Moon, and the time since the last New Moon.

The Quarters are chimed by a Quarter Jack: a small Automaton known as “Jack Blandifers”, who hits two Bells with hammers and two Bells with his heels.[136] At the striking of the Clock, jousting Knights appear above the Clock face.[137]

The first record of an Organ at this Church dates from 1310. A smaller Organ, probably for The Lady Chapel, was installed in 1415. In 1620, an Organ built by Thomas Dallam was installed at a cost of £398 1s 5d.

The 1620 Organ was destroyed by Parliamentary Soldiers in 1643. An Organ built in 1662 was enlarged in 1786 and again in 1855.[140]

In 1909 – 1910, an Organ was built by Harrison & Harrison of Durham, with the best parts of the old Organ retained. It has been serviced by the same company ever since.[140]

Since November 1996, the Cathedral has also had a portable Chamber Organ, by the Scottish makers, Lammermuir. It is used regularly to accompany performances of Tudor and Baroque Music.[141]

The first recorded Organist of Wells was Walter Bagele (or Vageler) in 1416.[142] The Post of Organist or Assistant Organist has been held by more than sixty people since.

There has been a Choir of Boy Choristers at Wells Cathedral since 909 A.D. The Vicars Choral was formed in the 12th-Century and the Sung Liturgy provided by a Traditional Cathedral Choir of men and boys until the formation of an additional Choir of girls in 1994.

The Vicars Choral currently number twelve men, of whom three are Choral Scholars. Since 1348, the College of Vicars had its own accommodation in a Quadrangle converted in the Early-15th-Century to form Vicars’ Close.

In December 2010, Wells Cathedral Choir was rated by Gramophone magazine as “the highest-ranking Choir with children in the World”.[148]

Bells.

The Bells at Wells Cathedral are the heaviest Ring of ten Bells in the World;[157] the Tenor Bell (the tenth Bell, and largest), known as “Harewell”, weighs 56.25 long hundredweight (2,858 kg).[158]

They are hung for Full-Circle Ringing in the English Style of Change Ringing.

The following Text about Wells Cathedral’s Bells comes from Microsoft CoPilot.

Wells Cathedral has a set of ten bells, which are housed in the South-West Tower, also known as the Harewell Tower. 

Here are the names of the Bells:

1. Faith;

2. Hope;

3. Charity;

4. Peter;

5. Dunstan;

6. Bytton;

7. Little Harewell;

8. Great Harewell (Tenor Bell);

9. Harewell (Second Heaviest Bell);

10. Unnamed (Lightest Bell).

THIS CONCLUDES THE ARTICLE ON WELLS CATHEDRAL.