Bells
The first peal of bells, ten in total, was presented to the church in 1777 by Thomas Rudhall, a member of one of the most prominent families in the city of Gloucester's 700-year bell-founding history. They were installed in the tower at the west end of the church. Two were given to St. Peter's Church upon its completion in 1828, but a bequest from a former warden of the church in 1892 funded the purchase of two more to replace these. The whole peal was then replaced in 1922 by a new ring of ten bells by Gillett and Johnson.
It became traditional for the bells to be rung when important visitors, especially monarchs or other members of the Royal Family, came to the town; a series of tablets preserved at the base of the ringing chamber give details of each "special occasion" on which the bells were rung for an extended period, such as Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. More recently, the bells were rung half-muffled for the funeral of Henry Allingham on 30 July 2009.
Read more about this topic: St Nicholas' Church, Brighton
Famous quotes containing the word bells:
“I’m getting married in the morning,
Ding! dong! the bells are gonna chime.
Pull out the stopper;
Let’s have a whopper;
But get me to the church on time!”
—Alan Jay Lerner (1918–1986)
“The bells, I say, the bells break down their tower;
And swing I know not where.”
—Hart Crane (1899–1932)
“These days of disinheritance, we feast
On human heads. True, birds rebuild
Old nests and there is blue in the woods.
The church bells clap one night in the week.
But that’s all done. It is what used to be....”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)