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How did a Peterborough Cathedral bell end up in an American garage?
A historic 300-year-old Peterborough Cathedral bell, which was sold more than 22 years ago, has been uncovered in a dusty hotel garage on the other side of the world.
A historic 300-year-old Peterborough Cathedral bell, which was sold more than 22 years ago, has been uncovered in a dusty hotel garage on the other side of the world.After years of research into the life of Henry Penn – a bell founder in Peterborough – local historian Michael Lee has finally discovered the path the bronze bells took when they were sold to the Americans in 1987.
Cast in 1709, five of the bells, which once rung from Peterborough Cathedral's tower, became old and tired and by 1984 bosses decided to finance a scheme for new bells.
The bells were out of tune and about to fall through the rotting bellframe but to install new ones would cost 100,000.
In order to try and save the bells, Mr Lee (76) had a scheme drawn up by Whitechapel Bellfoundry, in London, where the bells would be able to 'hang and sing'.
However, the Development Corporation and Peterborough City Council turned it down due to lack of money and instead it was decided to sell them to help raise the 100,000.
Meanwhile, the manager of what was then Pittsburgh's Vista International Hotel in Pennsylvania, USA, Paul Kelly, was in Peterborough on a trade mission and brought back a newspaper article that intrigued one of his neighbours, James Beck.
They knew the bell was made by Henry Penn, who is thought to be a relative of William Penn, founder of the state of Pennsylvania.
It is believed they paid a four figure sum for the three bells and then donated the largest one to the city on March 12, 1987.
Mr Lee, from Elton Road, Wansford, Peterborough, contacted the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a bid to trace the bronze bells which once bellowed out across Peterborough before being sent across the Atlantic Ocean to Pittsburgh in 1987.
He said: "I couldn't believe it when I saw this bell sitting on the floor of a hotel garage in Pittsburgh covered in dust rejected and looking unsafe.
"Why was this bell sitting in its dirty state with the name of one of the first and greatest founders of the United States cast into it's inscription.
"This is just one aspect of my research into Henry Penn but it would be great if we could get the bells to ring in unison so people can remember or find out the history behind them in their 300th anniversary year."
With the help of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mr Lee discovered the old bell was sitting atop a short wooden platform with 1709 inscribed on the side underneath the dust.
On closer inspection it was revealed the bell was one of 10 that Mr Penn cast for changing ringing – bells of different pitches meant to be rung together – and each bears a unique Latin phrase.
On the side it reads Magnificate Dominvm Mecvm Henry Penn Fvsore 1709, which means; Magnify the Lord with Me Henry Penn made me 1709.
The two other bells are believed to be at a golf club in West Virginia.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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