Old Cathedral of St Michael

Yesterday, I received a tip-off that our cathedral bells were going to be rung for an hour, around midday today. I went along in plenty of time, seated myself inside the old cathedral and was treated to the most glorious sound & when the bells of Holy Trinity joined in it was a sound that I had never heard in my life before. I can't convey the sound on here, but I hope these pics will generate a sense of the occasion to you, that I felt as the statement the bells sent out was that we are still here. Most Coventrians over the age of seventy I am sure will confirm that.

Nice pics Philip I love those sun-bleached benches and hope they're not replaced by the modern impersonal types you see elsewhere.

Thank you for the beautiful photos Philip. My granddaughter has not long returned from Coventry and said:- Gran as soon as you walk into the old cathedral the history jumps out at you and you just have to sit and look at the wonder of it all. I was so glad she made the visit and to hear her thoughts of such a beautiful place. If only those lovely old stone walls could talk!!

Once again loved the photos. I presume the bells were being rung in memory of 9/11 - what a great gesture.

The bells are rung most Sundays at noon, but the ringing yesterday was special, & to hear Holy Trinity bells at the same time must have taken some planning. When the ringing paused, I could hear distant bells, that might have even been St. Thomas on the Keresley Rd.

Could you have heard the bells from Christ the King? They are a fairly new addition to the church and ring at 9am, noon and 6pm as well as for weddings and funeral.

This is the part of the Cathedral ruins that is in the news just now. A crack has appeared in the end wall. It looks expensive!

Thanks for the picture Philip, I wish I was a millionaire I would fix that tomorrow. It must not be allowed to happen.

Sandstone is not the easiest of building materials to work with. The density & hardness have to be measured so that the correct mortar consistency is used, quite apart from assessing the state of the building/wall footings that are bearing the weight. There are several places in Coventry where sandstone walls have been repaired using cement and in one instance that is visible opposite from a hotel dining room window, every sandstone block in the wall had subsequently fractured because the builder failed to understand the nature of sandstone & its jointing science. Sandstone, like a lot of building materials, changes in character as it ages depending on damp, temperature variation & so on. I am not a construction engineer, just someone that has had to price up or prepare control estimates & count the costs of all manner of civil construction works.

Hello, I am one of the the Cathedral ringers. We meet and begin to ring every Sunday as soon as the main 10.30 service finishes. On Heritage Open Weekend we did indeed stay on for a bit longer and from 12.30 for an hour we showed approximately 30 visitors the art of Change Ringing. As regards your comments about our co-ordination with the ringing at Holy Trinity, this is a bit odd as Holy Trinity has not got a set of bells. The tower is completely devoid of bells, and there is a small bell of 1925 on the North East roof which they chime a few times before each service. Thus no coordination went on with Holy Trinity as there was no one to coordinate with! The only thing I can think of that you might have heard is a recording of bells that Holy Trinity plays through speakers positioned by the West Door for weddings sometimes. They might have been using this to attract people on the Heritage Open Weekend There's no chance of being able to hear St Thomas, Keresley, in the city centre as their bells are so light. And as for Christ The King - this is also a fake bell sound, played through speakers. No actual bells to speak of and unfortunately due to traffic noise, unlikely you'd hear it in the city centre.

Thank you so much for that info. I am at a loss as to know what I was hearing at one point as your bells were ringing. It was very specific and only lasted for a very short period. I must admit that I was puzzled as to how a coordinated rehearsal could ever take place without everyone hearing it. I stayed on the ground as I could see how many visitors that you were having to cope with. I did not know that about Holy Trinity. I even once played for a Blue Coat School Christmas service there. Thank you again for your expert info. ps. Living in Holbrooks as I do, I used to hear a fabulous bell practice on a Tuesday evenings years ago which I assumed was St. Thomas. Can you help me there? Best wishes Philip. ps. Please carry on ringing before all bell sounds are coming out of electonics, just as more & more organs are. I am not knocking the quality of the electronics, but it's so nice to hear the real thing.

If it was a Tuesday evening then it can only be Keresley St Thomas. And you could have come up... a few years ago we did the same open tower thing it was far busier. We started with a 30 minute demonstration session in the morning and the intention was to come back in the afternoon and do the same. What actually happened was that people simply kept coming in, masses of people, and we just carried on letting them up and having the occasional demonstration of some simple changes. We were there for four hours in the end, the two sessions merged together. As for fake bell systems, the majority of those are installed by churches like Christ the King - places who have no tower at all and no history of ringing. I dislike the things, in the States they seem to love the blasted things.

Thank you for that info. It always was Tuesday evenings, but I have not heard them in ages. I was walking along part of Coundon Wedge during the early summer & I heard Allesley parish ringing for a wedding. I have no idea about the art & skill of bell ringing. One day I would love to see you demonstrating your craft provided I do not get in the way. If you see an old small male wearing a cap in the grounds of the old Cathedral on a Sunday, please come and say hello. I would love to meet you. Best wishes Philip.

I can fully concur with the observation. I was married in Holy Trinity in 1971 and I was told that the only think we could not have was the bells, because the church did not have any.

The bells of Holy Trinity were moved to a wooden belfry in Priory Row during the 19th century due to doubts over the stability of the tower