100 years ago

The York Minster ring of 12 bells, which were currently undergoing repairs in London, had been cast in the year 1844, and the tenor or largest bell had been re-cast five years later.

Since that time, the bells had had little or no attention and had become unringable owing to the perishing of the fittings.

Owing to the efforts of the ringers, the Minster authorities had decided to take expert advice upon their condition, and had called in Messrs Warner and Sons, of the Spitalfields Foundry, who were established in the year 1763, and who had been honoured with a Royal Warrant of Appointment.

The condition of the fittings was found to be very serious, and the immediate replacement of the same was essential. The bells themselves were very much out of tune, and it was decided to have them thoroughly re-tuned and sand-blasted in order to remove the corrosion of years. The bells would be ready for shipment to York in about ten days.

They would be sent via Hull. A special crane would accompany the bells, and, all going smoothly, they would be replaced in about two months after delivery.


50 years ago

It was 135 years, this week, since Jonathan Martin, the religious fanatic, set fire to York Minster.

This anniversary was being marked at the Central Public Library in York by an exhibition of contemporary documents.

On show in the foyer were handwritten summaries of the evidence of witnesses at his trial at York Castle, copies of the wanted notices posted all over the North before Martin’s arrest, a newspaper account of the fire and a broadsheet on the trial along with the certificate of his insanity.

The fire had been discovered around 7 am on February 2, 1829, by a York Minster choir boy, named Swinbank, who had slipped on the ice in Minster Yard and found himself on his back gazing up at smoke billowing from several parts of the Minster roof.


25 years ago

An artificial leg which had belonged to Battle of Britain ace Sir Douglas Bader was among his wartime memorabilia which was being catalogued for sale later in the year.

Lady Bader was understood to be selling in order to buy a home of her own. T

he archive included RAF logbooks, combat reports, photographs and letters covering the whole of the fighter pilot’s career. One item gave his report of the crash which lost him his legs in 1931: “Crashed slow-rolling near ground. Bad show.”

Others recorded his battles and the period he spent as a prisoner of war. Bader, who had died in 1982, aged 72, left £22,738 in his will. London auctioneers Phillips expected the collection to fetch up to £100,000.