Ringing Down the Back Six at Canterbury Cathedral, Kent

Canterbury Cathedral is the UK's oldest cathedral, having been founded in 597 by St Augustine, who also founded the nearby St Martin's Church (the first to be founded, even though a Christian place of worship there had existed for several centuries before Augustine came) and St Augustine's Abbey. St Augustine also founded the nearby King's School, also in 597, making it the oldest school in the world that has operated continuously since. What we see at the cathedral today is an amalgamation of many different styles, ranging from 11th century all the way to 19th century. The most conspicuous and fantastic parts of the cathedral, in my opinion at least, are the crossing tower, transepts, nave and Western towers. The North West tower (the Arundel Tower, actually a 19th century copy of the south tower replacing an unstable Norman tower which was the largest section of Bishop Lanfranc's 11th century Romanesque cathedral) which contains the cathedral's clock bells and bourdon bell, Great Dunstan. This bell was cast in 1762 by Lester and Pack of London, and weighs 62-2-9cwt (3,179kg) and rings out the note of B. However, the South West tower (St George's Tower, or the Oxford Tower) contains the cathedral's ring of twelve bells. The tenor weighs 34-3-4cwt and rings out the note of C#. The whole ring was removed from the tower and subsequently recast in 1981 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and rehung that year lower in the tower. The 1981 ring of twelve replaced a much older twelve of mixed vintage. Below are details of the old twelve: Treble: 6-0-18cwt, Mears and Stainbank of 1923. 2nd: 6-1-18cwt, Mears and Stainbank of 1923. 3rd: 6-3-18cwt, Thomas I Mears of 1802. 4th: 7-1-14cwt, Thomas I Mears of 1802 - moved to Arundel Tower. 5th: 7-1-8cwt, George Mears & Co. of 1855 - moved to Arundel Tower. 6th: 8-0-23cwt, Samuel Knight of 1727 - moved to Arundel Tower. 7th: 8-3-25cwt, Samuel Knight of 1727 - moved to Arundel Tower. 8th: 10-2-7cwt, George Mears & Co. of 1855 - moved to Arundel Tower. 9th: 12-2-6cwt, Samuel Knight of 1727. 10th: 16-3-5cwt, Samuel Knight of 1728. 11th: 21-3-2cwt, Samuel Knight of 1727. Tenor: 32-0-6cwt, Mears and Stainbank of 1951. If you're interested in what the old twelve sounded like, here is a fantastic recording of them being all rung: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00...