View of south tower from north tower
14th century timbers of south tower
Towers and bells
The Norman Towers
The 12th century Norman or Romanesque towers are the oldest part of the existing building and were originally surmounted by low pyramidal wooden spires. Built as four-walled towers the dividing wall was dismantled early in the Gothic rebuilding. The removal of the wall also necessitated the removal of a floor and the realignment of another, which is now hidden by the wooden vaults that were inserted to mimic the stone vault in the rest of the nave and quire.
The North Tower
In the north tower is a single bell "Peter" which weighs approximately 4 tons and is in A flat. It was re-cast from bells from Llandaff Cathedral (with added metal), in 1484 and was the gift of Bishop Peter Courtenay to the cathedral. The bell was cracked in 1606 during over-enthusiastic celebrations of the discovery of the Gunpowder plot and was re-cast in 1676 by Thomas Purdue. Peter is not swung, just struck on the hour and at curfew.
PETER BELL
The full inscription on 'Peter' is as follows:
EX DONO PETRI COVRTENAY EPISCOPI EXON
ANNO DOM 1484 PLEBS PATRIAE PLAVDIT
DVM PETRVM PLENIVS AVDIT
RENOVAT EX IMPENSIS DECANI ET CAPITVLI
EXON ANNO DOMINI 1676 PER THO PVRDVE
('Renovat' should read 'Renovata ...' to translate, 'Recast at the expense of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter'. Presumably one bell-founder left out the final 'a' of 'renovata', and all later founders copied his version.)
This description of the bells has been reproduced from
'Exeter Cathedral - A Celebration'
by kind permission of The Reverend Prebendary John G. M. Scott,
the author of the chapter on The Bells and Clock.
The South Tower
The south tower houses the Cathedral‘s ring of 14 bells (though no more than 12 are ever rung at once). Bell ringers and visitors now gain access to the ringing chamber via the high roof. The bells are situated two floors above the ringing chamber and are not accessible to visitors.
The bells themselves have a very long history, and are all named; they were cast by several different founders between 1616 and 1979, but many of them have been recast from much earlier bells and have a continuous history from medieval times. They now form a ring of twelve in B flat major, and there are two extra bells which allow other keys to be obtained and make it possible to ring eight or ten of the lighter bells if desired. For more information about the bells please click here
The Bells and Bell Ringers
There are fourteen bells hung for ringing in the south tower, including a tenor of 72 cwt. (over 3.5 tons), which makes them the second heaviest peal in the world, after Liverpool Cathedral.
Ringing takes place on the "Sunday after the third Saturday" at 1.30-3pm, and also on the first Sunday 8.30-9.45am. The bells are also rung for special services and often on other Sundays either by the local band or by visiting ringers. Additionally, the bells are rung in the early morning in celebration of the three Great Festivals: Christmas Day, Easter Day and Pentecost. The full timetable lists all the ringing occasions.
The bells are chimed for the daily services in the cathedral in accordance with the principles laid down in the Middle Ages. The 'Little Nine o'Clock' bell is rung every morning for the daily eucharist in the cathedral, as it was for the chapter's daily mass before the Reformation.
Five times each year the bells are rung to a full peal, which can take between four and five hours. Sometimes this is undertaken by visiting bell ringers who come from all over the country to ring on this prestigious set of bells.
The Cathedral Society of Ringers is comprised of experienced bell ringers from all around Devon who come to ring these challenging but rewarding bells. Please contact the Ringing Master (Matthew Hilling) if you wish to join a ringing session. Non-ringers are welcome to visit the tower to see the bells being rung on a Saturday evening practice. Please contact the Secretary (Ian Campbell) to arrange this.
Further information about the bells, ringers and contacts is available on the Guild of Devonshire Ringers website where you can also listen to a few rounds on 12 bells.
A large single bell, Great Peter, hangs in the North Tower.
The High Roof
Before the insertion of the fire precautionary walls in the 1980s, it was possible to stand at the west end and look right through the roof void to the circular window at the east end. The east end of this roof was started around 1300 and was completed by about 1340. Sometime during the 18th century an attempt to replace some rafters caused the whole roof to move, so there is a distinct lean on the rafters, which are now two metres (6ft 7in) out of true.
Looking down from the roof of the north tower, one can see the effect this had on the crossing, which has been dragged out of shape.
The Aisle Roofs
The vaults of the north and south quire aisles are rather plain and their roofs are unexceptional, sloping gently outwards, as one would expect. The nave aisle roofs are quite another story.
The main purpose of the Gothic rebuilding was to let more light in. They therefore wanted the biggest windows possible. At the same time, they wanted to build cloisters to the south of the nave. These would have blocked the lower portion of the windows and as the upper limit was formed by the clerestory they had the incredible idea of reversing the aisle roofs! The aisle roofs over the west end of the cathedral actually slope inwards at a relatively steep angle. This means that the rainwater collects beneath the clerestory windows and has to be taken away by lead-lined wooden troughs that run through the inside of the roof void. The water from these internal gutters reaches the outside through lead pipes that can be seen underneath the tops of the huge buttresses at the lower level.
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