Quarter Bells

Quarter bells are the bells that the clock mechanism strikes on each passing quarter of the hour. Often, as in the case of Big Ben, a different tune is played for each quarter. This enables people to be able to tell the time, without actually having to be within sight of the clock face.


Famous quotes containing the words quarter and/or bells:

    In the haunted house no quarter is given: in that respect
    It’s very much business as usual. The reductive principle
    Is no longer there, or isn’t enforced as much as before.
    John Ashbery (b. 1927)

    But listen, up the road, something gulps, the church spire
    Opens its eight bells out, skulls’ mouths which will not tire
    To tell how there is no music or movement which secures
    Escape from the weekday time. Which deadens and endures.
    Louis MacNeice (1907–1963)