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The
Cathedral Bells - SMC010
In
1528 Bishop Robert Maxwell (1526-41) presented the Cathedral
with three bells and in 1682 the largest bell was recast in
Amsterdam after suffering damage.
When the spire was struck by lightning, in 1671, the tower
was destroyed when its timber frame caught fire. In an attempt
to save the bells the people of Kirkwall brought soft material
into the Cathedral to cushion the bells when they fell. The
largest bell was cracked during the fall.
The original inscription on the largest bell recorded that
it was cast in Edinburgh Castle by Robert Borthwik. The subsequent
inscription records that the Bell was taken to Amsterdam by
Alexander Geddus, a Kirkwall Merchant, and recast by the City
Bell Caster Claudius Fremy.
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