The Cathedral Bells

The bells of St Canice’s have been ringing over Kilkenny marking times of joy and sorrow since at least the 14th Century. Today our team of bellringers ring the bells on Sundays, feast days for weddings and for funerals.  On New Year’s Eve, muffled bells ring out the old year and then the muffles are removed to ring in the New Year.

Inscriptions, cast onto the bells themselves, tell the story of the work that has been carried out over the centuries.

The medieval bells were stolen by Oliver Cromwell in 1650 but a new set or ‘ring’ of 6 bells was cast under the direction of Bishop John Parry in 1674 by Roger Purdue and William and Tobias Covey.  We know that the total cost of this was £324, 4 s and 2 p.

These bells we re-cast in 1724 and 1851 and in 1892 the present treble and no.2 bells were added and the whole ring was tuned and re-hung.

In 1925 the bells were removed and re-hung in modern steel stocks with ball-bearings on all pulleys and bearings.

The bells can be rung either ‘full-circle’ by a team of bellringers or by one person alone using the Ellacombe apparatus.