Exploring York's Minster - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

When visitors come to York, they can walk along a medieval wall, cruise on the River Ouse or wander down a street called the Shambles. But, no matter they are in this northern England city, they will hear it. Follow the bells to discover York's biggest attraction. The Minster is the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe.

"The first Minster was built on this site in the 7th Century for the baptism of the Anglo Saxon King, Edwin of Northumbria in 627. It was a small stone church. The second Minster was Norman and completed around 1100 and some of the columns from this church remain in our Undercroft. The York Minster that you see today started in 1215, with the final sections being completed in 1472 - around 250 years," said spokeswoman Lisa Sinclair.

The Queen of England worshipped at the Minster during the 2012 Royal Maundy Service. It is a cathedral so big, it requires its own police force.

"The Liberty of St. Peter and Peter Prison was formed in 1106, and appointed its own officers (including constables) quite separately from the rest of the city of York," said Sinclair. "Following the Minster fire in 1829, the Chapter of the cathedral ordered that 'Henceforward a watchman/constable shall be employed to keep watch every night in and about the cathedral'. Since then, there has been a member of the Minster Police on duty, 24 hours a day, watching over visitors and worshippers to the Minster," said Sinclair.

The Minster Police are in charge of issuing hundreds of keys that open every door.

"We have 390 keys which unlock the turrets, which go up the spiral staircase, to get to the upper levels," said Minster Police Chief Steve Patrick. "We have master keys here get into various places the staff require. We've got our front door for the south door of the Minster and the main door. Also, keys for various areas, bell towers, and the desks, keys for the memorial books, we have memorial books to various regiments, from the second and first World Wars. There's a lot of keys there. We have keys for the stone yard and various other properties that we need to look after. Staff will request a key, So, we have to be familiar with which key opens which door. So, there's quite a lot to remember there. When we do issue them, we'll book them into the key book there, with their name and the key comes back and then it's signed back in. We know, if a key goes missing, who it was issued to. They all come back in the end," said Patrick.

Iain Kelly is a Verger at the Minster who assists clergy. Each day, he climbs 276 steps of the spiral staircase and squeezes through narrow passageway of the Minster. It is his route to work every day. Kelly is in charge of ringing Great Peter, the heaviest bell in Britain.

"Up here, our job is to ring the bell normally at 12 o'clock to chime the bell. Then other occasions. We've had military funerals, memorial services, so while they're reading the names, we toll the bell during that period in a mournful type tone," said Kelly.

Grays Court Boutique Hotel http://grayscourtyork.com/ is situated in the shadow of the Minster where the bells are easily heard.

"They start at 8 in the morning and go off at 8 at night. Depending on what part of the house you're in, they sort of resonate through the house. We use them to tell the time," said Grays Court owner Helen Heraty.

High above the hotel in the tower of the Minster, Iain Kelly describes how he rings Great Peter.

"We pull the rope because the bell is on a wheel and we have to pull the rope to shift the wheel, which then gets the bell moving, for the clapper to strike," said Kelly. "Normally it takes about eight pulls on the rope to get it going. With it being 10 and 3/4 tons, it takes a bit of effort to get it going," said Kelly. "We really don't need to go to the gym. Cause having to do this once a weekday, it gives you a workout. I must admit," laughed Kelly. "You can hear it across citywide. They know it's the Minster and the Minster is a piece of their heritage," said Kelly.

While Kelly works alone in one part of the tower, the twelve bells of the Minster's Peal require a team effort.

"Back in 1432, they built the western towers and put all the bells in," said David Potter has been ringing bells at the Minster for 43 years. "This peal of bells are particularly beautiful. They are a lovely musical peal of bells. There's a peal of 12 bells and a couple of extra semi-tones that we use when we're teaching, but there are other bells. The Minster has a complete carillon of bells, 35 bells in that, and a big clock chime and a big bell that weighs 11 tons," said Potter.

"Church bell ringing is part of English culture. It started off as a gentleman's sport. It was invented by the aristocracy. They made it into a mathematical and musical art form. It took hold of the population gradually over a period of years and it's been part of our culture ever since. Groups of people ringing bells every week in the country, it's probably 40-thousand bell ringers in England," said Potter.

"A full peal in English change ringing is to ring over 5,000 different rows, mathematically pure and none of them repeated and to ring in a particular musical sequence. Now, that might take as long as 4.5 hours on a big peal like this. So, there's only two, three peals every year allowed on these obviously because you can't inflict that much ringing on the population below," said Potter.

"It's a great privilege to ring on such a lovely peal of bells in such a lovely setting, knowing that there are always people outside listening to whatever you do," said Potter. "With the 12 bells of York Minster, you could ring 479 million 1 thousand six hundred different musical rows without ever repeating yourself. Since it takes two seconds for a bell to turn over, in full circle, if you multiply 479 million 1 thousand six hundred by two seconds, you'll get 38 years. So, 38 years of continuous ringing even if you didn't need a cup of tea halfway," said Potter.

Imagine ringing bells for four and a half hours.

"Each bell turns over in a full circle every two seconds, and there are very strict rules, you're not allowed any aids, no memory aids, or physical aids. No one is allowed to feed you a drink or water or anything to eat. Anything you want has to be in your pockets," said Potter.

Not everyone who rings the full peal of bells is a veteran. 24 year old Holly Webster has been ringing for five years.

"My boyfriend rings church bells and I knew nothing about it whatsoever and I barely saw him so I thought, if I want to see him I better learn how to ring. So, I did," laughed Webster. "We ring at two towers, so we ring at the Minster on Tuesday practice. We also ring at another tower in York as well. Then, we ring on Sundays as well. So, that's three evenings in a week," said Webster.

"The aim is to make sure that your bell is in the middle of the other two bells, and you're not clashing between either of them. It takes about a year, I think, maybe a little longer to learn the art where you can do this. It's quite a long apprenticeship to ring church bells, but once you get there, you get a good teacher, it's good fun. Obviously we've had it in our culture for years so it's something that needs to keep going. So, the younger generation needs to come in and appreciate and keep it going, I think. It means a lot to Britain, I think," said Webster who says ringing for the Queen at the 2012 Royal Maundy Service was the most nerve-wrecking thing she has ever done.

This York Minster is the only cathedral so far to have a carillon.

"The carillon is a bit of a rarity in this country. There are only 15 in the whole of the British Isles compared to about 230 in the United States. The carillon is a set of 35 bells mounted on a large steel frame and it's played for this keyboard, with the pedals. When I press any of these keys, the wires go up through the ceiling and strike the bells two floors above. It's entirely mechanical. No Wi-Fi, no computers, no electrics, it's one person," said carillonneur John Ridgeway-Wood.

"It's similar to piano in that you can play quietly, or loudly. Every single one of these batons is a different weight. The biggest bell needs a bigger clapper. The smallest bells need much smaller clappers. Unlike the piano or the organ, every one of these is a different weight and you have to get used to that," said Ridgeway-Wood.

"We've done everything on here from Bach to the Beatles. We can play anything. My very first recital on here was on American Independence Day so I did a full program of American music. That was my very first recital," said Ridgeway-Wood.

"During Christmastime, we do lots of Christmas music, we're in Easter time now, so we're doing a lot of Easter music. We play for half an hour before Evensong every day, so it's a mixture of hymns, a mixture of light classic music, and then if we do a recital, that's when we tend to go a little bit more over the top with the choice of music. When the Minster rose was launched last year I did a program based on anything to do with roses or flowers in general. We have a good range of music," said Ridgeway-Wood. "It's a great joy for people who come to York to be able to hear music being played on bells because it's so unusual in this country. I'm born and bread Yorkshireman and York Minster is very much like the parish church in Yorkshire, so to be able to come in here and to play this fabulous instrument, is an amazing experience. It's a great joy."

The people who work in the Minster are aware of the history. The names of those who have gone before are written on walls.

"People who have been up here writing their name since the 19th century, since we first got his bell," said Kelly. "Any member of staff connected to the Minster, we bring up here. We will ask them to write their name on the wall as a memory that they are part of this heritage. Again, it's part of that chain. If you're in here, you're part of the small part of the Minster's history and it's a way of continuing it and making your mark and showing you were here and you were ringing this bell. Part of the history," said Kelly.

The names of former bell ringers are also written in a book.

"This book records all the full peals that are rung at York Minster all the way back to 1758 when they rang the first full peal," said Potter.

With each pull, the sound and the history continues in York.

"Let's say I'm walking through work or walking to work and I hear the bell, it reminds me that I'm here, I'm part of this cathedral. I'm part of the heritage this city. This is a symbol of York and the Minster is a symbol of York and it's part of that continuing heritage. I'm only a small part in a very big history of York and of the Minster. To me, it's a memory of that and it's a continuation of that. A continuation of the trend," said Kelly.