Treasure of the Month: The Tantony Bell
The bells at Lichfield Cathedral have a fascinating history. Today, the south-west tower holds what many bell ringers regard as the finest ring of ten bells in the world. All ten bells were recast in 1947 by Taylors of Loughborough, a renowned firm of bell-founders.
Another notable bell at Lichfield is the service, or Tantony, bell, which rings for five minutes before a service starts. The Tantony bell is the only bell visible from outside the building: it is on the south side of the central tower. The name Tantony is derived from St Anthony of Egypt (251-356) who was a popular saint in the Middle Ages. Regarded as the patriarch of monks and a healer, he left his trace on the English language through the word ‘tantony’: a diminutive applied to the smallest bell in a peal. Lichfield’s Tantony bell is 47cm in diameter at the bell mouth and was recently estimated to weigh approximately 75 kg.
Lichfield Cathedral’s Tantony bell is a bit of a mystery: no-one has a clue who made it. The bell has a plain cross or founder’s mark on one side and an unintelligible black-letter (or Gothic) inscription of three words. The use of ‘black-letter’ font suggests a late fifteenth century date and Dove’s Guide for Church Bell Ringers lists the bell’s date as c. 1500. The bell might have a secular origin but there is no firm evidence for this.
The bell currently requires conservation and repair. Part of the crown has what appears to be a crack, although it could just be marks remaining from when the bell was cast. The crown allows the bell to be strapped to the headstock, a piece of wood from which the bell hangs. The rim of the bell is heavily dented at the current strike position. The bell has already been ¼ turned in the past and now requires a further ⅛ turn to prevent further damage to the rim. The bell-clapper is a lump of rusty metal which needs to be renewed. The bell itself is loose in the headstock, and the wooden frame is loose in the window opening.
History of the Cathedral bells
Little is known about the Cathedral bells in the Middle Ages. We know that the bells were destroyed during the English Civil War in the mid-seventeenth century. There was considerable damage to the Cathedral building during three sieges, when the Cathedral was used as a garrison by each side in turn. Any Cathedral archives, which might have told us about the earlier bells, were lost during the Civil War. A report by Parliamentary Commissioners, in July 1649, tells us that the Cathedral was ‘extremely ruinated’ and that any valuable materials, including iron and lead, had been taken away; this may well have included some of the bells. A further Parliamentary Commission reported in 1652 that some of the bells were broken and others had been taken away. In July 1653 the ‘Jesus’ bell was deliberately "knocked in pieces by one Pickins, a Pewterer, who was the chief officer of the Cathedral". The inscription on this bell is recorded as "I am the Bell of Jesus, & Edward is our King; Sir Thomas Heywood first caused me to ring", suggesting that this bell broken was the so-called Jesus bell which had been given by Dean Thomas Heywood in 1477 and cast in London at a cost of £100. Until its destruction in 1653, it had hung in the south-west tower, which became known as the Jesus Bell Tower. It is in this tower that the current ring of ten is hung.
Thus it seems that any bells which remained in the Cathedral in 1652 were taken down and broken up for scrap. The Tantony bell must, therefore, be from a later time. It was probably installed in the 1660s when the Cathedral was otherwise without bells. The Cathedral records for 1666 to 1667 include a payment of £1 2s. 3d. for "hanging the little bell". This may well refer to the hanging of the bell in its present position. However, two years earlier, in 1664, Thomas Morgill was paid £1 10s "for his paynes in ringinge the bell to call the workmen at morning & noone, by order of the Deane & Chapter". It is possible that this refers to the use of a hand-bell but it seems more likely that it refers to a Tantony bell being in use at the Cathedral by 1664.
In 1660, the monarchy was restored. Repairs to the Cathedral began in 1662 under the leadership of Bishop John Hacket and by 1669 the building was sufficiently restored to allow the resumption of services. The Tantony bell alone rang out on the occasion of the great rededication service in 1669 and it may well have been the pitiful sound of this little bell that drove Bishop Hacket to take on the task of replacing all the bells. On 18th January 1670 Hacket informed the Archbishop of Canterbury that the Cathedral had been rededicated and told him about his plan to "furnish the Steeple with a laudable Tone of eight bells”. Hacket worked tirelessly to raise funds and to encourage completion of this project. The money which had already been raised for the Cathedral had been spent entirely on structural repairs and on the provision of essential fittings. Now an additional sum of "no less than ye sum of eleven hundred pounds" was required for the new bells. Hacket was himself a bellringer and became a member of the Ancient Society of College Youths in 1651 (a bell-ringing society which is still in existence today) but, even with his abundant enthusiasm and undoubted abilities as a fund raiser, he had difficulty collecting further money for the bells and in the end he bore most of the cost himself. The ten new bells were cast by Henry Bagley of Ecton in Northamptonshire, and they were installed in the south-west tower in 1688.
The sound of the Tantony bell, still being rung several times a day before each of the daily services, is a treasured link with generations of people who have heard the bells of Lichfield Cathedral through many centuries.
Find out more:
The Cathedral Church of Lichfield by A B Clifton (London, 1900) www.ajhw.co.uk
www.lichfield-cathedral.org/worship-music/bellringing
The Tantony Bell - Treasure of the Month: A podcast with the Revd Canon Dr Gregory Platten
Hear a little more about the littlest, and most used Bell of Lichfield Cathedral, with Clare Townsend, the Cathedral Library Manager.