Holy Trinity Church Kingston upon Hull

Guten Morgen. What am I doing sitting here at the computer on such a lovely sunny morning. It's a Sunday so it's my day off. Wadya mean every day is a day off when you're retired, ha ha. I do have things to do you know. Heidi is lying on the desk trying to catch the mouse. She is grounded for today, naughty girl has been scrapping I think. Don't know what has happened, who started it, or who she had a fight with, but she has a sore back paw and was limping a bit last night. So today she is on bed rest. Doesn't seem to be bothering her much this morning as she can still jump up onto high cupboards. Now she is looking whistfully out of the window, sorry, Heidi, you aint going anywhere today.

Right, I'm going to split yesterdays pics of Hull into two groups as there are rather a lot of them and I don't want to be sitting here all day. I went across the river (free on the bus), because there was mention of the Freedom Festival this weekend on BBC Radio Humberside. Worth a look to see what it was all about. The place was packed with people. I don't like going into towns on a Saturday, far too busy for me being a country bumpkin type. Never mind, as I said, worth a look.

The pics here are of Holy Trinity Church. This appears in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest parish church in England. It has been here for over 700 years, and is truly magnificent. The present building is the third church on this site. It was founded in 1285 with the last of the building work consecrated in 1425. During the Civil War  a wall was built across the transepts and the army stabled their horses in the east end.

The city has strong links with William Wilberforce MP, a pioneer for the abolition of the slave trade. He was babtised in Holy Trinity's medieval font.

Luckily today the tower was open for visitors, so I paid my £2 and climbed the narrow spiral stone staircase to the top. Here are some of the views across the city.

That funny shaped building is The Deep on the banks of the Humber. It's a massive aquarium which I wrote about after a visit a while ago. It looks like a ship setting off on it's journey. There is a big tent just below it there, the circus has come to town. Part of the Freedom Festival.

This pic isn't so clear as I'm shooting into the sun, but you can make out the Marina just beyond the roofs of those buildings.

A zoom in shot of The Deep.

I was quite surprised to see lots of solar panels on the church roof.

This is where the bell ringers gather.

I have included this short video of the bells being rung, found on yootoob. I love the sound of church bells.



On the next level up is the mechanism for the hourly clock chimes.

As you can see it is just past 3 o clock, we all waited to watch the mechanism spring into action.

The plaque says it is almost 100 years old. The guide told us that someone from the company comes every year to service it, to keep it in good working order.

Finally when I came back down I was delighted to linger a few minutes and listen to the choir practice. I am always in awe of how beautiful many voices sound when they are singing in harmony. A choir in a church brings so much peace and tranquility to the feel of the experience. For me, choirs and bells are the icing on the cake in any church.

I'll be back later with the Freedom pics. Toodle pip.