29 April 2009

birmingham bells

Temple Row / Birmingham, England
The Cathedral Church of Saint Philip is a Church of England cathedral and the seat of the Bishop of Birmingham. Built as a parish church and consecrated in 1715, St Philip's became the cathedral of the newly-formed Diocese of Birmingham in the West Midlands in 1905. St Philip's was built in the Baroque style by Thomas Archer and is the third smallest cathedral in England. Interestingly, the bells of St Philip's play an important role in the training and development of bell ringers. Since 1949 the Cathedral has been a regular peal tower - the "long practices" on Thursdays, and more recently Mondays, have proved a training ground for in excess of 500 accomplished 12-bell ringers in the last 50 years. That explains why on Mondays and Thursdays I hear non-stop ringing from the bell tower from 7-8pm (or longer).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That sounds incredibly irritating.

exfactor said...

ummm, yes - after awhile (5 minutes or so) it is!