Talk:Derby Cathedral

English Anglican Cathedral Towers
Greetings. Going from memory, for one has not the means to do otherwise, the 'rankings' for the said structures be thus... 01. Liverpool (Vestey / central crossing tower/cct) 331'; 02. Lincoln (cct) 271'; 03. Canterbury (Bell Harry /cct) 235' (though 215' once noted); 04. Gloucester (cct) 225'; 05. Durham (cct) 218'; 06. Ely (western tower/wt) 215'; 07. Derby (wt) 212'. The measurements be in imperial (feet) - ones language ! Remember, we are talking towers only, not domes or spires.ROBERT TAGGART (talk) 12:00, 6 February 2010 (UTC)


 * I'm afraid memory is not enough. Wikipedia's policy is that we should go with the sources over "truth". The situation is quite simple though; if you are correct it should be easy to find a source describing Derby as having the 9th tallest tower amongst Anglican cathedral. Nev1 (talk) 15:50, 10 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Alas, no such source - on the web or in print exists to the extent of ninth place ! ROBERT TAGGART (talk) 15:54, 10 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Then in the absence of alternative sources we must stick with the existing source which describes the tower as third tallest. Nev1 (talk) 16:04, 10 January 2010 (UTC)


 * For goodness sake! How many are likely to care whether it is the 3rd, 9th, 13th or whatever highest? If there are no reliable surveyors' reports available it should just be omitted.--Charles (talk) 14:28, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

I agree with Charles and I am going to remove any reference to the ranking of heights. It is clear that we do not have reliable sources. First, looking at our own articles on cathedrals gives at least two. Liverpool and Lincoln, that are higher at 100.8m and 83m. Second, the Lincoln Cathedral's own site claims it is the highest Cathedral Tower in Europe, yet the Liverpool height is sourced in our article. The Mountain Research Team is a reliable source for heights, but there no reason to suppose it knows the heights of all other Cathedral Towers in the UK to rank them. The ranking is clearly not known reliably. -- Bduke   (Discussion)  20:43, 14 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Agree also, but, have done likewise on the Derby city page. This page was claiming it be both the second and the third tallest ! It be nonsense like this which brings 'wiki' into disrepute. That said, seventh place would appear to be correct... but who is counting ?! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.183.140.33 (talk) 14:43, 18 February 2010 (UTC)


 * So we agree then ? ! ROBERT TAGGART (talk) 13:35, 20 February 2010 (UTC)
 * To what? I only agree that we should not mention ranking of heights. -- Bduke   (Discussion)  00:19, 21 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Agree to disagree !... at least regarding the rankings ? Agree to leave out the rankings on the main page ? ROBERT TAGGART (talk) 14:20, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

The height is settled then ? Methinks 212' also. But, did you know... the guidebook (and one or two other books) speculate as to the original intentions... the plan was to cap it with either a lantern (as per Boston Stump) or even a spire ! Regarding spires... there be an unwritten convention... 50/50. That is to say... a spire should be as tall as the tower which it atops. There are of-course many exceptions. But, if put into practice in this case, that would give us Englands / Britains tallest such structure... 424'... if only ! The Syth ! (talk) 09:26, 6 May 2010 (UTC)

List of musicians at English cathedrals
Could User:Andrewrabbott or some other interested person please go over to the page listed above and make the entry on Derby Cathedral comply with the other entries, so that the list pertaining to this cathedral links to the cathedral's article.

NOTE: In the context of an article, you cannot link a heading, as I have done on this talk page, because it doesn't comply with the MOS. So what was done with the original entries was that every single cathedral had a short sentence, in which the name of the Cathedral is linked e.g. "Organists at Barchester Cathedral have included Septimus Harding." Amandajm (talk) 13:51, 20 May 2014 (UTC)

Enhancements needed / translations too!
Forgive me if I observe that this is a surprisingly very poor entry for such a significant building in Derby, and misses using key information sources such as the Cathedral's own official guidebook (£3 in the cafe) plus freely available leaflets on the Cathedral Clock, for example. The Cathedral's Outlook magazine for Dec 2014 contains an article on the history of the Cathedral, apparently based on a forthcoming book in 2015 by Professor Paul H Bridges from Derby University. There are relatively few foreign language versions of this page, and noticeably absent is a German version(Derby is twinned with Osnabruck!).

I will do what I can to update this page in the near future, but would welcome assistance from other Wikipedians to improve its content. I will be busy researching a trail leaflet on the exterior architecture of Derby Cathedral over the next few months (incorporating a QRpedia code to link to multi-lingual pages on Wikipedia) so fear I won't have the time to make many improvements here myself.

So any help you guys can give to help improve content here would be really welcome! Here are a few key issues currently overloooked:


 * Rev Hutchinson's unauthorised demolition of the old church in c1725, and his efforts to raise funds for the construction of the new nave.(plaque to this effect in South Aisle)
 * Source of Tower gritstone as Coxbench Quarry
 * Retrochoir in artificial sandstone
 * Green men
 * Grotesque animal carvings beside main entrance on tower
 * Cross-bedding in sandstone block of nave
 * College place was named Dark Alley
 * A section on the History of the Cathedral Clock (replaced in 1927) - info leaflet available.
 * Visit of HRH ElizabethII in 2010
 * Ring of 10 bells
 * Highest loo in Derby (WWII firewatchers urinal in ringing chamber)
 * Collapse of tower pinnacle during WWII from anti-aircraft balloon
 * Alleged lowering of a donkey from the tower
 * relocation of the bells (can be heard live via peregrine webcam feed)
 * The Derby Plank
 * Prayer reading for Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745
 * Joseph Wright memorial
 * Bess of Hardwick Memorial
 * The Sanctuary
 * Memorial to John Lawe
 * Font by James Gibbs
 * Consistory Court

Much can be sourced from: Derby Cathedral Official Guide. 2014.

Parkywiki (talk) 00:12, 29 December 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 external links on Derby Cathedral. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130630160918/http://www.derbyda.org.uk/tower-map/derby-cathedral to http://www.derbyda.org.uk/tower-map/derby-cathedral
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150924002232/http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/Ominous-storms-lashed-Derby-eve-war-Chamberlain-kept-telling-nation/story-11641887-detail/story.html to http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/Ominous-storms-lashed-Derby-eve-war-Chamberlain-kept-telling-nation/story-11641887-detail/story.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141219003623/http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/Daredevil-duo-s-leap-faith-prepare-abseil/story-16725714-detail/story.html to http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/Daredevil-duo-s-leap-faith-prepare-abseil/story-16725714-detail/story.html

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