weather vanes, a choice rejected by the building committee, which, according to the historian Antóin O'Callaghan, wanted the church to "retain the continuity with the one true faith of the ancient past". The northwestern tower hosts a ring of twelve bells, as well as an additional sharp second bell, which forms part of a diatonic ring of eight bells, for a total of 13 bells. Originally, eight bells were hung on a wooden frame in the tower in either 1752 or 1753, which were cast by Abel Rudman of Gloucester. The bells were taken down in 1865 in advance of the original cathedral's demolition. They were reinstated at some point before the new cathedral's consecration in 1870. But at this point, the towers and spires had not been constructed above the level of the nave, and consequently the bells were hung lower than is appropriate, which meant that they could not be rung properly. In 1902, an appeal was launched in an attempt to raise £500 to properly fit the bells, and the next year they were hung from a steel frame higher in the cathedral. Due to corrosion of the frame in 2007, the frame was replaced, which created an opportunity to expand on the collection of bells: in 2008 four trebles were added, along with the additional second bell. Between their initial installation and today, many of the bells have been recast, and all were restored in 2008. The spires had a troubled construction: it was a difficult build technically and thus expensive to fund. The cost reached £40,000 early in the build, with a further £60,000 spent by the time the spires were in place. Along the way, a number of sub-contractors were hired and dismissed; the contract was eventually completed by the Cork builder John Delaney, hired in May 1876. By the end of the next year the main and two ancillary spires were complete. Sculpture An 1881 estimate by the local stonemason McLeod suggests that Burges provided around 844 sculptures, of which around 412 were for the interior. The total of some 1,260 sculptures include 32 gargoyles, each with different animal heads. Burges oversaw nearly all aspects of the design, headquartered in his office in Buckingham Street and on numerous site visits. Most modern scholars agree that his overarching control over the design of the architecture, statuary, stained glass and internal decorations led to the