The first church on the site of the present Cathedral was founded (as was the town of Chelmsford itself) 800 years ago. This church was dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, and was rebuilt in the 15th and early 16th centuries. It became a Cathedral in 1914 when the Diocese of Chelmsford was created to meet the needs of the growing population east of London. In 1954 its dedication was extended to include St Peter and St Cedd.

The nave, with its colourful ceiling was rebuilt early in the 19th century after a partial collapse due to excavation in the vault. In 1983, the interior was refurbished. The honey-coloured limestone floor helps to give the Cathedral its sense of space and light. New seating gives flexibility for worship as well as for musical events, particularly the annual Chelmsford Cathedral Festival in May. The altar, the Bishop's chair (cathedra) and the font are all made from Westmorland slate. The bronze and steel ambos on each side of the chancel arch, the screens of the two chapels at the west end of the nave and the bronze Pietà, depicting the sufferings of today's world, are all by contemporary artists.

The stained-glass windows are all of the 19th and 20th centuries. The large east window depicts the Virgin Mary, eleven disciples and scenes from the life and ministry of Jesus. It replaced a window destroyed in 1641 by a mob inflamed by puritan passions.

The interesting 15th century south porch was enriched in 1953 to mark Anglo-US friendship. Many US airmen were stationed in Essex during the Second World War. details

The Cathedral also has links with Thomas Hooker, who was Town Lecturer in Chelmsford from 1626-29. He had to leave for the New World because of his Puritan views. He went on to found the town of Hartford, Connecticut and has been called the Father of American Democracy.

The exterior walls are of flint rubble intermixed with blocks of building stone and brick. There is a fine tower topped by a spire with a weather vane that portrays a dragon coming out of the sun.The tower houses a fine ring of 13 bells. On the south east corner of the church is a contemporary statue of St Peter with his fishing boots, net, fish and key.

The Cathedral has two splendid organs. The nave organ, installed in 1994 at the west end of the Cathedral, was the first completely new organ with mechanical action to be built in an Anglican cathedral in this country for more than a century. The chancel organ was completed in 1995. The pipework is from an organ of 1884 made for the church of St Andrew in Cambridge. Although both organs are independent instruments, all but the choir division of the nave organ can be played from the console of the chancel organ.

During the second world war, there were several US airforce bases in Essex. As a memorial to the 'tasks and friendships shared', the south porch was greatly enriched in 1953. The windows were unveiled in that year by Field Marshal Viscount Lord Montgomery and General Griswold, USAF.

The memorial consists of heraldic stained glass, both in the porch itself and in the library above; carved oak doors, benches with monograms, an inscribed floor of Portland stone and noticeboards. The monograms stand for the English Speaking Union and its local counterpart, the Essex Anglo-American Goodwill Association.

The window includes the Arms of the sovereign and the floral emblems of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: the rose of England, the thistle of Scotland and the shamrock of Ireland. In the window may be seen also, to the left, the Arms of the Diocese of Chelmsford and to the right, the Arms of the County of Essex, bearing three swords. The oak leaves and acorns which encircle the windows are appropriate for a county which has no natural building stone (being mainly composed of clay on a bed of chalk) and which has always relied on timber as a building material as can be seen in the ancient timber church at Greensted and in many church towers, barns and houses in Essex. The carved timber ceiling of the porch shows how elegantly this material can be used.

In the windows on the western side may be seen emblems of the USA, including that of the Department of the Air Force. In the centre is the eagle, holding the olive branch of peace in one talon and in the other the arrows of war, with the motto E Pluribus Unum, the stripes of the US flag and the thirteen stars arranged in a flower above. To the right one can see the inspiration for the Stars and Stripes in the Washington family coat of arms (President George Washington was the great-great-grandson of a Rector of Purleigh in Essex): the arms of the family are a white shield with two red stripes across the middle and three red stars above them.

Externally, the porch is constructed mainly of flints and stone. The flints are found deep in the chalk sub-strata and have been knapped (split) to show the glassy black interior and are arranged in various patterns (flushwork). Two buttresses, one on either side of the gateway, give support and stability to this handsome porch which has been sheltering the faithful and welcoming visitors to the Cathedral Church for nearly five centuries.

The church which Thomas Hooker knew, nearly four hundred years ago, was similar in structure to the one we see today. The tower, nave and south porch (with the room above) and the south aisle are much as he knew them. The chancel did not then have clerestory windows and was eighteen feet shorter it was extended in 1928 to make room for the Bishop's chair (Cathedra), and seats for the Provost and Residentiary Chapter. The inner north aisle existed in the seventeenth century but the outer north aisle was added in 1873.

The Mildmay memorial of 1571 was in place, and also the tablet to Matthew Rudd, who died in 1615. It was an age intensely concerned with matters of religion and conscience, closer to consideration of life and death than we are today; without the means of mass communication (books were scarce and valuable) people flocked to hear the spoken word.

Thomas Hooker was born in Leicestershire around 1586. He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and became Rector of Esher in Surrey in 1620. In the will of Thomas Williarnson, a churchwarden of Chelmsford Parish Church (now the Cathedral), money was left to finance monthly sermons, to be preached in the town, six shillings (30p) to be paid for each. These sermons were very popular and were held on the first Friday of each month, which was market day. In 1623, Alice Bird a widow of Chelmsford, gave to buy 'a fair new pulpit to be set in a fit place in the church.... where people may hear God's word'.

Thomas Hooker was appointed Town Lecturer of Chelmsford, 'a good bigge town', in 1625. He was a popular and powerful preacher and seemed to get on well with the Rector, John Michaelson. However, Laud, Bishop of London, in whose diocese Chelmsford then was, did not approve of his outspoken views. He placed the greatest emphasis on ceremonies in church: the communion table, not the pulpit, was to be the central feature. On the other hand, Hooker and his friends claimed the right to preach the word of God, as set forth in Holy Scripture, according to their consciences.

By 1628, Bishop Laud was determined to silence Hooker, who faced charges in the church courts. In 1630, he fled to Cuckoos Farmhouse in the small nearby village of Little Baddow, where he founded a school to teach young ministers.

In 1632 he was persuaded by his friends to flee with his family to Holland. The following year, he set sail to Boston. The family settled in New Town, which later became Cambridge, Massachusetts, but two years later he led a group of people a hundred miles into the Connecticut river valley where they established a new colony at Hartford and Hooker established his first church.

Thomas Hooker was the first minister of Center Church and led the original settlers to Hartford in 1636 from Newtowne (Cambridge), Massachusetts. In 1638 he preached a sermon to the General Court as they prepared to develop a plan for self-government for their colony. He shared his vision that “the foundation of authority is laid, firstly, in the free consent of the people.” His vision was incorporated into the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, which is known as the first written constitution in the world and was a model for the United States Constitution.

He died at Hartford Connecticut, in 1647 and his statue in front of the Old State House.

Several other important ministers from Essex, together with their friends and families, fled this country and settled in America at the same time. The small town of Chelmsford was founded in 1653 near Concord, Massachusetts.

There is no memorial to Thomas Hooker in the Cathedral, but you will find a Hooker Memorial Civic Plaque fixed high on the wall of the narrow alleyway, just outside the Cathedral grounds, opposite the south porch. It reads:

Thomas Hooker, 1586 - 1647, Curate at St. Mary's Church and Chelmsford Town Lecturer 1626-29. Founder of the State of Connecticut, Father of American Democracy.

A new Guild of Change Ringers was formed and under the master, Henry Cooper, rang for the enthronement of the first Bishop of Chelmsford on 23rd April 1914, and a few weeks later the first peal (over 5000 different changes of non-stop ringing) was rung on the 12 bells, with six local men in the band.

After the First World War Chelmsford ringers continued to make progress in the exercise under the Master, the late Leslie (Jack) Clark who was Tower Captain for 50 years up to 1977, and some of their successes are recorded on the peal boards which hang in the ringing chamber. One great achievement was a peal of Grandsire Caters by the Sunday service band on 26th April 1932.

New bearings and a 13th bell

In 1931 the bells were overhauled and rehung on ball bearings (making them 'go' more easily) by Gillett and Johnston, the Croydon bellfoundry; and in 1947 the Taylor (Loughborough) bellfoundry cast a thirteenth bell, a 'flat-sixth', making it possible to ring a lighter octave in F when the number of ringers present, or their capabilities, make it desirable. This bell was the gift of Frederick J. French in memory of his father, Henry French, who had been a chorister and ringer at the Cathedral. The donor died before the bell was installed but generations of ringers since have been grateful for the versatility of ringing it has made possible.

Peals

Some 210 peals are recorded as having been rung on the Chelmsford bells. In recent times, the bells have been much in demand for pushing forward the frontiers of ringing ability by ringing increasingly complex methods on 12 bells. A particularly notable series of peals by an all-Essex band started with a peal of 3 spliced Surprise Maximus methods (12 bells) in December 1991 and gradually built up the number of methods, finishing with the notable achievement of a peal of 35 spliced Surprise Maximus in July 1999, the whole series conducted by the present tower captain, David Rothera.

On a smaller scale, David led his family of wife, Sue, and their four children in a rare family peal of Minor for Christmas 1993. This and some earlier Peals are recorded on Peal Boards in the ringing chamber.

Marking the gradual augmentation of the bells from 6 to 13 over the years have been a series of peals from the first, Plain Bob Major (8) in 1777 through Kent Treble Bob Royal (10) in 1887 to Grandsire Cinques (11+1) in 1914 and Cambridge Surprise Maximus (12) in 1921.

The first peal of Spliced Surprise Maximus in the world was rung at Chelmsford in 1929 (conducted by William Pye, a renowned Essex ringer). Locally named methods pealed at the Cathedral: Chelmsford Surprise Major rung in 1962 on the 'back 8' by a predominately resident Essex band; and Essex Surprise Maximus rung in 2000 by a resident Essex band.

The Current Situation

The present Sunday Service band (currently 17 ringers at various stages of ability, some taught at the Cathedral) regularly rings for morning and evening services on Sundays, as well as for Weddings and for other special occasions. The current custom is to attempt a Quarter Peal on the first Sunday evening of each month in order to provide a means of reinforcing what has been learnt during practices on Monday evenings. Whilst most of these quarters are on 8 or 10 bells, the band is gradually increasing its competence to ring methods on all 12 bells, and is grateful for the help and support provided by ringers from other Essex towers. The band continues to do well in local and county striking competitions.

During the Cathedral Festival each year the band holds its Annual Meeting to consider the previous year's activities and elect its officers.

There are only two other rings of 12 bells in Essex (at Waltham Abbey and Saffron Walden) and we can justly feel proud of the Cathedral bells and the long history of ringing at Chelmsford.