BELLS

Bell-Ringing

During the 17^thC it became possible for bellringers to rotate a bell 360 .

Fabian Stedman invented change-ringing bell ringing.

Through much of the 2010s church bells were being silenced by noise abatement notices that were often only taken out by a handful of individuals. In 2018 the government stated that churches would not have unreasonable restrictions put on them because of changes in nearby land uses since they were established because new homes were being constructed close to them.

Location: St Andrew Undershaft, St Mary Axe, EC3A 8BN (orange, grey)

Big Ben

The bell that was intended for the Palace of Westminster's St Stephen's Tower was cast near Stockton-on-Tees and then transported to London. The instrument was tested in New Scotland Yard; during this trial it cracked. Its metal was used by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry to cast a smaller bell that became known as Big Ben. This was rung for the first time in 1859.

The derivation of Big Ben's name is uncertain. There are two leading contenders for its origin. The first is Sir Benjamin Hall, a rather fulsome official, who supervised the bell's installation. (Hall's wife, Lady Augusta, wrote The First Principles of Good Cooking (1867), a noted cookbook of the era. Her culinary expertise may have contributed to her husband's bigness .) The other is Benjamin Caunt, a popular boxer of the day, whose nickname was Big Ben.

(Whenever Parliament is sitting the Elizabeth Tower's belfry is lit after dark.)

Location: Parliament Square, SW1A 0AA (purple, brown)

Website: www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/big-ben

The Speed of Light

Big Ben's ringing tones can be used to demonstrate that radio waves travel at the speed of light. Radio 4's Six O Clock News starts with the bell's chimes. If a person takes a radio to Parliament Square and listens to the radio station at the appropriate time, s/he will hear the bongs on the wireless a third of a second before s/he hears the sound travelling directly down from the St Stephen's Tower. This is because the B.B.C.'s equipment within the structure will have already picked up the sound and relayed it into its transmission system, in which the noise is relayed in the form of light, and then broadcast it.

See Also: RADIO B.B.C. Radio, Radio 4

Bow Bells

Cockneys are said to have been born in the sound of Bow Bells . These are the bells of St Mary-le-Bow.

Location: St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, EC2V 6AU (blue, turquoise)

Website: www.stmarylebow.org.uk

Windblown Cockneys

The Daily Telegraph newspaper published a story in 1994 that Dr Malcolm Hough of the Met Office had devised the Larkhill Ray Invariant (Larri). This was a model that enabled the identification of Cockneys to be placed upon a scientific footing. It was stated that the researcher had investigated London's wind and weather conditions for the period April 1991-April 1992 in order to ascertain the distances at which the sound of the bells of St Mary-le-Bow might be heard in a variety of meteorological contexts. The factors that he had taken into consideration had included the impact of traffic noise. During nighttime, when there had been less interruption from other sound sources, the peels had been able to travel further. His analysis was stated to have revealed that a prevailing wind could cause there to be a concentration of Cockney births in suburbs at several miles distance from the church in salubrious middle-class suburbs such as Dulwich that were not associated with traditional Cockney culture.

See Also: WEATHER Wind

Great Paul

St Paul's Cathedral's Great Paul is the largest bell in the U.K.. It weighs 16 tons and is extremely loud when rung. In 2022 it was tolled for four hours continuously to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee.

Location: St Paul's Cathedral, St Paul's Churchyard, EC4M 8AD (purple, white)

The Whitechapel Bell Foundry

Trades that were viewed as being either dangerous or obnoxious tended to be pursued outside the City of London. This accounts for why Whitechapel is home to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. The prevailing westerlies meant that the district was downwind of the City for most of the year.

The Foundry was first established at Houndsditch in 1420. In 1583 it moved to Whitechapel and in 1738 it relocated to the Whitechapel Road.

The bells that have been cast there have included Big Ben (1859), Bow Bells (1738), Philadelphia's Liberty Bell (1751), and the bells for the St Clements c.1687 which featured in the nursey rhyme Oranges & Lemons.

The Hughes family ran the foundry for four generations. In 2017 they closed the foundry.

In 2021 the Home Office approved the conversion of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry site into a hotel. It was claimed that this would include a modern foundry that would be used to make small bells.

Location: 32-34 Whitechapel Road, E1 1DY (blue, turquoise)

See Also: MONEY The Royal Mint; WEATHER Wind

Website: wwwwhitechapelbellfoundry.co.uk

David Backhouse 2024