Dunno about you but had a good night’s kip. Something to do with all that wood splitting yesterday. Gonna do some more today as I need to clear a space for the compost bin I’ve been meaning to build all year but kept putting off, partly because I decided to change the location. That location has a big pile of logs on it.
Was exciting to spot two muntjac deer on the log cam. It’s the first sighting all year. Initially I thought there was just the one but watching the footage again this morning realised that there were two separate deer with only one visible at any given time.
The cathedral bell has just tolled eight. Great Tom. I checked the clock on my macbook and it too says eight. Didn’t actually count the dongs but I assume there were eight of them. This Great Tom has been telling the time for 192 years, since it was cast and hung in Lincoln Cathedral in 1834. The original Great Tom, however, was cast in 1610 and told the time for over 200 years until it cracked in 1802. Structural fatigue apaz due to the repeated banging of the clapper on the exact same spot for 192 years. I guess you can’t easily rotate a bell like that to spread the bang, so to speak. They might have been able to rotate the clapper I suppose but obvs noone thought about it at the time. Someone else’s problem.
Would have been a great shock to everyone at the time in 1802 waking up to a dong that was slightly off key, or not even a dong at all. More of a dull clang with no vibrancy. You know what I mean.
32 years is quite a gap between dongs innit so I asked both Gemini why it took so long and got the following:
While earlier restrictions occurred around 1802 because swinging the massive bell violently shook the north-west tower, the fatal crack developed in December 1827. It remained silent until 1834 for several reasons:
V expensivo: Recasting, expanding, and transporting a bell weighing more than 5 tons (Gemini said tonnes but we all know that’s a load of metric boloney) to and from London by road involved immense financial expenditure for an already expensive gaff to run such as Lincoln Casthedral. Note the original bell was cast in Minster Yard in Lincoln.
Controversy!: To make the new Great Tom larger and louder (Lincoln must have been spreading out beyond the range of the original dongs) without funding the entire metal supply from scratch, the Chapter decided to melt down the cathedral’s medieval peal of six bells (the historic “Lady Bells”) from the central tower. This act of civic vandalism sparked outrage among locals btw.
Structural and Placement Feasibility: Cathedral surveyor and architect James Savage decided that rather than returning to the north-west tower, the new bell would go into the bigger central tower, which required clearing floor space and modifying the tower vaulting.
Great Tom was recast in November 1834 by Thomas Mears at the famous Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London, and there were big celebrations when the new bell arrived. Great Tom made its triumphant return to Lincoln Cathedral in April 1835. Its arrival turned into a huge civic festival.
The Grand Entry: Drawn on a heavy carriage by a team of eight horses, Great Tom took seven days to travel up the Great North Road (now the A1 though I sometimes do call it by its older more interesting name) from London. Compare that with the less than two hours by train these days.
The Procession: The bell was met at Lincoln’s southern boundary (the South Bar) by a ceremonial parade made up of civic dignitaries, tradesmen, and thousands of cheering citizens (well they were going to be able to tell the time again). Vast crowds flooded the city from surrounding parishes to follow the bell up the steep hill through the High Street and Steep Hill. The pubs would have been packed.
Festive Banquets and Suppers: The milestone was commemorated with feasts across the city. Among the most famous was a celebratory supper held at the local Dolphin Inn for the dozens of workmen, carpenters, and bell-ringers who hoisted the bell into the tower.
The Perilous Lift: When the bell was winched up over 160 feet into the central tower, the town watched on with fascination. The opening in the stone vaulting was so tight that two boys were famously lashed to the outside of the bell so their feet could guide it through the gap without chipping the masonry.
Anyway, enough of this talk about bells, though it is interesting and I never knew any of this until the 8am donging piqued my curiosity.
THG has gone out to Park Run. Looks a lot cooler out there today which will encourage better run times and great Tom has just hit me with nine dongs, so to speak. In between I had a very fine gran o’la with yo’ gurt, blackberries and a banana followed by half a grapefruit. A relaxed start is called for.
I did observe at breakfast that we needed a new light bulb in the kitchen. This is on top of the two that need replacing in the shed. The shed ones are expensive and have to be sourced from a specialist builders merchant but we almost certainly have some of the kitchen type “in stock” in the utility room. THG took the opportunity to ask whether I had noticed that there were other jobs on my jobslist. I replied in the negative saying I hadn’t looked at the jobslist all summer. I will do so today, just for her :).
Also need to get packed for Ma lah gaa today. Not going until Monday but like to get going on these things early as you always come up with something else that you could shove into your bag. Leaving it until the last minute risks forgetting something, like the kitchen sink. Actually I expect there will be a sink in the room’s ensuite and I doubt we will be washing any dishes whilst there but you get my drift. Mustn’t forget the sunscreen, and a hat. Gonna be hot hot hot.
Been a fox visit most nights btw. Just don’t bother recording them now.