Swan Bells - History of The St Martin-in-the-Fields Bells

History of The St Martin-in-the-Fields Bells

The St Martin-in-the-Fields bells can be traced to before the 14th century. They were recast in the 16th century by order of Queen Elizabeth I and again between 1725 and 1770 by members of the Rudhall family of bell founders from Gloucester. Due to be recast leading up to 1988, instead they were tuned and restored at London's Whitechapel Bell Foundry and donated to Western Australia, on the initiative of local bellringer and businessman Laith Reynolds. They are rare in that they are one of the few sets of royal bells, and more so since they are the only set known to have left England. The bells are also known to have rung as the explorer James Cook set sail on the voyage that founded Australia.

Some think that the children's nursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemons" refers to these bells in one of its lines: You owe me five farthings say the bells of St Martin's. However, since the rhyme refers to bells in the City of London and St Martins-in-the-Fields is in the City of Westminster, the line more likely refers to St Martin Orgar, near Cannon Street, which no longer exists. This St Martins was in Martin Lane, a street that was once notorious for moneylenders.