A description of S. Paul’s bells is hardly complete without an allusion to the great ring of twelve cast by Taylor in 1877, and placed in the north-west tower, the tenor weighing over 3 tons. They were given by the City Companies and the late Baroness Burdett-Coutts. In addition there are a “service bell,” cast in 1700, and two quarter-bells of 1717 for the clock.
Among other great London bells are the ring of ten at the Imperial Institute, cast by Taylor in 1887, and the tenors of the rings at Southwark Cathedral, S. Mary-le-Bow, S. Michael, Cornhill, S. Giles, Cripplegate, and other famous towers; those mentioned are all from rings of twelve, and weigh 2 tons or more.
The old campanile at Westminster, built by Edward III, originally contained three “great bells”; it was pulled down in 1698, and we have followed the history of one of these bells, but the others disappeared. They had no successor until 1856, when the late Lord Grimthorpe (then Mr. Denison), an enthusiast for clocks and bells, designed a great bell for the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament. It was called “Big Ben,” either after Sir Benjamin Hall, who was then First Commissioner of Works, or after a noted boxer of the time named Benjamin Brain. Its original founders were Messrs. Warner of London, but being sounded in Palace Yard with a hammer, for the amusement of the public before being hung, it was very soon cracked. In 1857 a new bell was cast by George Mears of Whitechapel, from an improved design, and containing less metal. Its weight is given at 13½ tons. Shortly after its casting Big Ben gave way, but after being quarter-turned, could be once more utilized for striking the hours. Its tone, however, is anything but satisfactory, and one is forced to the opinion that these excessively large bells, very difficult to cast and awkward to manipulate, are apt to prove great mistakes.
Chimes
Sets of chimes, or arrangements for playing tunes on bells, existed in England even in mediaeval days; but they are nowadays regarded as a speciality of Belgium, and the famous carillons of Antwerp, Bruges, and Mechlin are well known to many a traveller. But it is not our province to speak of these, and it may be of some interest to see what use has been made of such arrangements in England.
Dr. Raven, in his fascinating book, The Bells of England, tells us that the machinery of the carillon was a recognized thing in the middle of the fifteenth century, and quotes from the will of John Baret of Bury St. Edmunds, who died in 1463, and gave directions for the playing of a Requiem aeternum for his dirge at noon for thirty days after his death, and on each “mind-day,” or anniversary, to be continued during the octave. The sexton was also to “take heed to the chimes and wind up the pegs and the plummets” as required. The music of this Requiem, we are told, only compassed five notes, and must have been somewhat wearisome to the good people of Bury. In old churchwardens’ accounts, as at Ludlow or Warwick, we find frequent references to the repair or upkeep of the chimes.
Bell by Robert Mot of London (1575–1600),