In keeping with yesterday's tribute to St. Dunstan, who was a metal worker and bell caster, I decided to check in at the site of the Diocese of Wenchoster once more to seek information on their bells. Here begins the history of their bells:
The Cathedral Bells
There were three bells in the cathedral church of St. Ennodius and St. Veronica during the reign of Henry the Eighth but their weight and inscriptions are unknown. An ancient manuscript in the Chained Library records how Bishop Tosspot (Toby Codpiecium 1519-1530) ordered their removal since the ringing kept him awake on Sunday mornings. It is known that the bells were indeed taken down, but what happened to them is lost in the mists of the Wen valley. A new set of three were commissioned by Tosspot's successor, Bishop Overweight (Alfred Codpiecium 1530-1539). In 1605, Bishop Wearside, on being cleared of implication in the Gunpowder Plot, commissioned a new bell to mark the saving of Parliament. Bishop Thrust paid for a pair of bells in 1688, and the un-tuned ring of the bells was converted into a peal of six at a cost of 5,000 groats.
To get the full story, of course, you must go to their web site, but I will add that the firm of "David Vascular & Sons of Watercloset Lane, Smithfield" added three more bells for a total of nine. The names and details of the inscriptions on all nine bells are to be found at the diocesan site.
Wenchoster Cathedral is proud to possess the monument to Robert (Plain Bob) Oakhandle, the only one-legged, blind ringer to ever to have participated in a full peal (pictured above with the Dean and Ringing team of 1899). This feat was achieved in 1898 and has yet to be equalled. The annual Ringers Guild service is held next to his memorial on anniversary of his death, (May 29th).
You can find the picture of the group on the site, along with a picture of the bell-ringing team which celebrated the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
The bell ringing team of 1952 after their marathon 24-hour peal to celebrate the coronation. The hooded-figure at the back right of the picture is Brother D'Eath OHHSV of whom little is known. None of the members of this team could ever remember him being invited to attend.
Actually, Elizabeth II's accession to the throne was in 1952, but the coronation ceremony did not take place until 1953. Surely a simple slip of the typing finger by one of the editors.
The web site of the Diocese of Wenchoster is rich and full of history and present day news, enough to offer material for several more posts for my blog, plus, the editors of the site add to their material and are kind enough to send me an email each time something new goes up.
I had thought of doing a post on their organs, but I found the organ site loaded with specifications and details which were absolute Greek to me, so I thought I'd best leave that to someone more knowledgeable. Sorry, David Charles Walker. The names for the organ pipes are intriguing, and I like that their tuba pipe is named Tubby. Their organ charts indicate that wind passes in, and wind passes out, but I know nothing about that.
Ha! The teddy bear I have slept with since I was a kid is named Tubby.
ReplyDeleteMimi--I have responded to your request on my blog. In fact, I spent my Saturday evening responding. Aren't you impressed with the power of your words?! ;-)
Mimi,
ReplyDeleteOrganists are a sick bunch. Believe me... I know. There are organ specs floating around the orgasma-sphere that are far more raunchy, but clearly a key tickler did the research on Wenchoster's great organ. Wen, BTW, is reputed to have been the bigger brother of Ben Choster, and he was affectionally known in "certain circles" as Wendy. But all that is lost in the mists of history. Chaucer alluded to the ancient rumors in an obscure (yeah, yeah. I know. ALL of Chaucer is obscure. Be that as it may...) document -- the location of which is known only to Dan Brown. In organ school, we were taught that while Ben was called a Swell guy, it was Wen who was truly Great. And thereby we got the names for the two keyboards on early organs. My memory fails me (it often does!) at the moment, but I think I learned at GTS that it was the two Choster brothers who founded the hamlet. Of course I could be wrong... (Oh. Sorry, Maddy). I'll have to check that out on the diocesan web site.
In any event, I'm most curious to get more information on their bells, so I'm off to browse. I *do* hope they have info on the brothers' notorious sister, Belle.
WELL!
ReplyDeleteThey have totally ignored the information on the founding of the hamlet. Perhaps "ignored" is not the right word. Conspiracy?
In any event, my keen eye picked up this revealing statement at the very end of the article:
"Please note that under new regulations an Enhanced Personal Data Disclosure is required from all ringers."
So!!!... the rumors floating around amongst organists about the Guild of Belles at Wenchoster appear to be true.
Far be it from me to rat on any randy ringer, but it won't be long before the Big Zimbelstern of the Southern Coneheads gets wind of this.
See, David, I knew I made a wise choice to leave the organs to an expert. And you organists are a sick bunch, except for the organist in my church,who is a wonderful, normal, but extremely talented woman.
ReplyDeleteAs for Ben and Wen and the Belles, it's very likely due to a conspiracy that they were ignored.
I've not heard back from the "glass" man on the St. Dunstan window, but from the looking around I have done, I have little doubt that it is by Sir Ninian Comper.
ReplyDeleteDuring my travels, I came across this STUNNING virtual tour of St. Stephen's House, the Oxford theological college, which occupies the former mother house of the Society of St. John the Evangelist (the Cowley Fathers):
http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/ststephenshouse/index.htm#
The main church - left-hand section of clickable diagram - is the work of the great gothic revival architect George Frederick Bodley, who was also the original architect of the National Cathedral at Washington. Do not miss the House Chapel - lower right of the map - which has a fine baldachino by Comper. Unusually for his work, it is neither gilded nor painted, and is none the worse for it plain-ness.
The 360 degree panoramas on this site are stunning: the devotional atmosphere of the three chapels at the college (the original, "Founders'" chapel is at the upper right) comes through with startling clarity.
The virtual tour is stunning. I think the link works better this way.
ReplyDeleteThe baldacchino is lovely.
What about the stained glass in the Holy Spirit Chapel?
That's earlier, around 1890, I would say, probably by the firm of Charles Kempe. I don't see any distinctive iconographic "identifiers" to determine who the saints are. Doctors of the Church, maybe - Augustine & Ambrose, quite possibly. I read on StandFirm earlier this evening that St. Ambrose was not even baptized, let alone ordained priest, when he was elected archbishop of Milan - see, there are rewards for venturing into strange places.
ReplyDeleteDid you take the cursor down to the ground - pointing directly downwards - on any of the views? If you do, you can see the device - apparently a large reflecting hemisphere - used to figure the image.
There's also a nice Flickr photoset of St. Stephen's Ho. at:
http://www.flickr.vip.mud.yahoo.com/photos/paullew/sets/72157600038885028/
As someone with many friends and relatives who are organists, I'm confining any Wenchoster comments I might ever make to the refectory. It's scary, but safer.
ReplyDeleteNina, I understand perfectly.
ReplyDeleteHey, I miss a day and come back to find my people maligned! Although, come to think of it, I'm hard pressed to put up a plausible defense... Don't let DCW mislead you, however, he is a gentleman and a fine priest and musician.
ReplyDeleteEd, I hope you know it's all in fun. In these trying times, we need a few laughs.
ReplyDeleteWenchoster is a place I can visit and know I will come away laughing. I have only just begun my explorations over there. I have much more snooping around to do.