This coming Saturday (31st July), churches across the City of London will ring the bells in a festival of church bells.
The day will start with the ringing of Great Paul (at St Paul’s Cathedral), which at 16½ tons is the largest swinging bell in the UK, and hasn’t been rung for the past 20 years. This will happen at 9:20am in the presence of the Lord Mayor and Bishop of London, both of whom may be persuaded to take hold of the rope.
At 9:30am, the cries of Great Paul will be answered by the ringing of the 12 Bow Bells over the following 2 hours.
At 10am they will be joined by the 12 bells of St Michael Cornhill as a full peal of 3½ hours is attempted.
The day will conclude with an encore by Great Paul, this time joined by the mighty 12 bells in the other tower of St Paul’s Cathedral.
All the bells are rung by bellringers who will be travelling into London for the festival, including the three main London societies of the Ancient Society of College Youths, the Society of Royal Cumberland Youths and the Middlesex County Association.
According to the information here, the current schedule is as follows:
9am
9:20 – 9:30 Great Paul at St Paul’s Cathedral
9:30 – 12:30 The 12 Bow Bells at St Mary le Bow, Cheapside
9:30 – 13:00 Full peal on the 12 bells at St Magnus the Martyr, Lower Thames St
9:30 – 12:30 The 12 bells at Holy Sepulchre, Newgate St
10am
10:00 – 13:30 Full peal on the 12 bells at St Michael, Cornhill
10:30 – 11:30 The 10 bells at St Clement Danes, Strand
10:30 – 13:30 The 8 Royal Jubilee Bells at St James Garlickhythe, Garlick Hill
11am
11:30 – 12:30 The 8 bells at St Andrew Holborn, Holborn Circus
11:00 – 13:00 The 10 Jubilee Bells at St Dunstan-in-the-West, Fleet St
Noon
12:00 – 13:00 The 3 bell chime at St Andrew by the Wardrobe, Upper Thames St
12:30 – 13:30 The ancient 5 bells at St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield
12:30 – 14:30 The 8 Coronation Bells at St Olave, Hart Street
1pm
13:30 – 15:00 Carillon Recitals at All Hallows by the Tower, Tower Hill
13:30 – 14:30 The 12 bells at St Giles-without-Cripplegate, Barbican
13:30 – 15:30 The 6 bells at St Katharine Cree, Leadenhall St
13:30 – 14:30 The single bell at St Margaret Pattens, Eastcheap
2pm
14:00 – 14:30 The 2 bells at St Mary Woolnoth, Bank
14:30 – 16:30 The 8 bells at St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, Bishopsgate
3pm
15:00 – 17:00 The 12 bells at St Magnus the Martyr, Lower Thames St
15:30 – 15:45 Great Paul at St Paul’s Cathedral
15:45 – 16:50 The mighty 12 bells at St Paul’s Cathedral
4pm
16:00 – 17:00 The 6 bells at St Vedast, Foster Lane
16:00 – 17:00 The 8 bells at Christ Church, Spitalfields
Maps above based on Open Street Map
