A PEEL FOR PEACE

The site of Newcastle Cathedral started out as a Norman church in 1091, built in the same period as Newcastle Castle. Eventually, the church became a Cathedral and was dedicated to St Nicholas, the generous patron saint of children, sailors, and merchants. You might know it from the beautiful ornate red and gold clock below its tower. 

The Cathedral’s signature Lantern Tower, from the 15th century, was the main guiding light source for ships on the River Tyne for centuries, luring the city’s men to safety through many dark and foggy northern days. Due to the time of its construction not allowing for proper measurements, the tower is asymmetrical and in the 19th century, was found to be tilting and had to be reinforced with additional structures. 

Here, you see the Cathedral’s wonderful ringing room, a jumble of colourful ropes, commemorative plaques, and flat cushions for kneeling. There are fourteen bells above it, including the aptly named ‘Old Major’, a huge bell over 6ft in diameter, and the ‘peace bell’, donated in 1914 to be rung when World War I was over. Did you know that up to seven bells must ring five-thousand and forty times for it to count as a ‘peel’?  

In the ringing room, the walls are covered in the Cathedral’s ‘peeling boards’, which tell of the special occasions on which peels have occurred, such as celebratory or commemorative peels for the royal and esteemed. For Armistice Day, Newcastle Cathedral was the only Cathedral in England that sourced twelve bell ringers to ring a full peel, lasting a full three hours long.