Location
On a pillar next to the north door (see Cathedral Plan).
Further Information
This bell is sometimes referred to as the 'Fire Bell'; when it was hung outside the church it was used to warn the inhabitants of the walled town of fire. Local legend has it that the bell was brought from Gibraltar by Admiral Rooke in the early 1700s, although another source says that a relative of Abraham Rudhall (who founded the bells in the tower in 1703) brought this bell from Tangier. In 1859, Dr. A.B. Tysenn recognised it as the work of Matias Solano of Seville. The Arms are thought to be those of Leon and Castille and it is certainly of continental rather than English manufacture. It was suspended for many years in the lantern above the cupola and was rung by a lookout to warn of approaching ships. By the turn of the 20C it had found its way into the town museum, located in the old Town Hall, next to The Dolphin, opposite the Cathedral. The bell was brought back to the church at some later date and was in storage until 1993 when a bracket was designed to complement Nicholson's nave pendant light brackets. A new detatchable clapper was made at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. The bell is now rung before certain services and occasionally as the interval bell in concerts.
