The Bell Tower, housing one of the finest collections of bells anywhere in the world and home to the Swan Bells, twelve of which are historic bells from St. Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square and six cast in more recent times by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry using metals mined in WA, would be an unmissable destination for keen campanologists. Unfortunately I was there too early yesterday morning to watch the bell ringers practice but $2 in the slot set the electronic bells below right at the very top of the tower a'clanging.. very loudly :)
Above left just a few of the many historic bells on display in the tower and below the oldest bell in Australia. Weighing in at 459kg and cast over 450 years ago this beauty once rang out from the tower of the parish church of Upton Grey, Hampshire England.. not sure about you but my imagination is soaring! Show you a bit more of the tower tomorrow, happy Wednesday, take care...
What an amazing collection and so much history!! Terrific captures as always!! You do find the most fascinating places/things/people!! I'm so glad you share them with us!! Great way for me to start the day! !
ReplyDeleteWhoa, boy! Only $2 a ring. That would be just too tempting. :-)
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed very exciting!!
ReplyDeleteA gold coin sets off the bells?? That gives a whole new meaning to "change ringing."
Do the neighbors complain?
What a great collection of bells and sounds!
ReplyDeleteHow cool! I would love to see these things. And it appears there are a lot of ding-a-lings in your part of the country! :))
ReplyDeleteNow did you hear about the poor homeless soul who stopped at a church rectory one day to ask the good Father for a job doing chores around the church. The priest thought a long time and finally said, "Well, the only thing I can think of is the bell-ringer job. You'd have to climb the bell tower and ring the bells at certain times."
"I can do that," said the poor soul. And off he went to the bell tower.
All was well until the evening. By then he'd been sipping too much of the grape and was just a wee bit tipsy. So he stumbled over and set the bells in motion, but neglected to get out of the way and one of the bells came back to hit him right in the face which sent him tumbling backward out of the tower down to the ground.
Ere long a group gathered. They stood looking sadly at the body, but nobody knew who he was. Finally, the priest who noticed the commotion, went out and joined the group sadly looking at the body. One of the women finally asked him, "Father, who is he. Do you know this man?"
The priest looked at the body intently for a while, then said, "Not so's I remember, but his face sure rings a bell!"
It always feels magical to hear bells tolling, Grace! Love Lowell's joke.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine a place full of bells like that. You may have been there at the right time when they weren't ringing.
ReplyDeleteI love the sound of church bells ringing...any bells, actually!
ReplyDeleteI've been up a couple of belltowers in this country. Yours look great
ReplyDeleteWell, Grace. Obviously we are no campanologists! We went in in 2006 and thought.. nah (guess it was more pricey back then) - nice to have a peek now anyways!
ReplyDeleteIt's free entry on WA day ($2 donation to ring bell). I've never been up there either.
DeleteThe things I learn from you Grace- this is fascinating stuff. More please......
ReplyDeleteJ'adore everything about this resonant post! White-chapel also poured our US "Liberty Bell"
ReplyDeleteTintinnabulation!
ALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^=
Very interesting place.
ReplyDeleteLove the sound of church bells.
ReplyDeleteYou taught me a new word today Grace! I love hearing bells ringing and I would be in heaven here.
ReplyDeleteGosh, you've even managed to get colour into your shots of bells! For some reason in Melbourne the ringing of church bells seems to constitute noise pollution or something. One church in Hawthorn used to ring bells on Sunday mornings - you could hear them for miles, but then it stopped. Even one Christmas I went to midnight mass at St Pat's Cathedral and heard a recording of bells inside the building! Honestly...
ReplyDeleteLove those old bells.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have known that word. The bells remind me of the ones in our Peace Tower, but one can only get glimpses of them.
ReplyDeleteWell, I learned a new word, although I can see the connection to the Italian. And it's a switch to pinch a cultural artifact from England rather than the other way around.
ReplyDeleteWow, nice and interesting post! It is campana for bell in italian and spanish, and we also have campane, a very old french word. Bell, in modern french, is cloche (klosh)
ReplyDeleteGosh that bell ringing equipment looks exhaustingly difficult Grace. You always find new and interesting places to visit. Keep on the adventure trail.
ReplyDeleteThat last one is a massive bell (love the greenish color as well). Must be quite a noise when they ring some of them in the morning.
ReplyDeleteMersad
Mersad Donko Photography
Nice post ! Have a nice day !
ReplyDeleteCath
Look forward to tomorrow - promise you won't 'drop a clanger'!
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see bells upside down!
ReplyDeletecould be Belgium !
ReplyDeleteYou've taught me a new word today. What a great place to visit.
ReplyDeleteThis must have been an interesting visit. Love seeing all those bells!
ReplyDeleteSome bells are truly beautiful! Great collection.
ReplyDeleteDing Dong, interesting images, Grace!
ReplyDeleteInteresting bells! Arianna
ReplyDeleteTerrific, Grace. This is quite a bell connection. I wonder why they are collected there. And, your photos are -- as usual -- excellent.
ReplyDeleteVery impressive collection. I'd love to hear them ring out.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE bells and this is an amazing collection. Neat that some are from England too.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a very little kid, my grand parents would take us to dinner at a restaurant that we called "The Bell Ringer's"...it was family owned and the couple had a bell collection that decorated all the walls in the restaurant...and at one point during dinner, the couple would break out the bells and entertain us with a bell concert!!! A fond memory...
ReplyDelete"WHAT????"
ReplyDeleteArt and history all together! They just don't make things like these bells anymore. That is pretty cool that for two dollars you can get those bells clanging.
ReplyDelete