Original verdigris finish (71)

This bell was cast by the bell founders Braysers of Norwich somewhere between 1424 and 1523 and the bell’s crown bears the founder’s mark of three bells with a crown and five ermine tassels. The inscription, part of which is very crookedly cast, tells us that the bell is dedicated to St. Etheldreda. Two small lions’ heads act as word spacers. Originally it hung in the tower of St. Nicholas, Feltwell, which collapsed in 1898. In 1967 the parish gave the bell to the Cathedral and it now sits on display in the north nave aisle.

The three lumps at the very top of the bell are the points at which the molten metal was poured into the mould when the bell was cast. Its exact weight is not known, but is probably about six or seven hundredweight.