The
Swan Bells are a set of eighteen
bellA bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
s hanging in a specially built -high
copperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29.It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is rather soft and malleable and a freshly-exposed surface has a pinkish or peachy color...
and
glassIn general Glass refers to a solid, brittle, transparent material, commonly used for windows, bottles, or eyewear. Examples of glassy materials include, but are not limited to, soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, acrylic glass, sugar glass, Muscovy-glass, or aluminium oxynitride. The term glass...
campanileCampanile is an Italian word meaning "bell tower" . The term applies to bell towers which are either part of a larger building or free-standing, although in American English, the latter meaning has become prevalent.The most famous campanile is probably the Leaning Tower of Pisa...
in
Perth, Western AustraliaPerth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. With a population of 1,650,000 , Perth ranks fourth amongst the nation's cities, with a growth rate consistently above the national average....
. Taking their name from the
Swan RiverThe Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. Its lower reaches are relatively wide and deep, with few constrictions, while the upper reaches are usually quite narrow and shallow.-Course:...
, which their tower overlooks, and forming a sixteen-bell peal with two extra
chromaticThe chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone or half step apart. "A chromatic scale is a nondiatonic scale consisting entirely of half-step intervals," having, "no tonic," due to the symmetry or equal spacing of its tones....
notes, they are one of the largest sets of
change ringingChange ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called "changes". It differs from many other forms of campanology in that no attempt is made to produce a conventional melody....
bells in the world.
Twelve of the set are historic
bellA bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
s from
St Martin-in-the-FieldsSt. Martin-in-the-Fields is an Anglican church at the northeast corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Its patron is Saint Martin of Tours.-Roman era:Excavations at the site in 2006 led to the discovery of a grave dated about 410...
church in
Trafalgar SquareTrafalgar Square is a square in central London, England. With its position in the heart of London, it is a tourist attraction; and one of the most famous squares in the United Kingdom and the world. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base...
in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
; six others, cast in recent times by the
Whitechapel Bell FoundryThe Whitechapel Bell Foundry is a bell foundry in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. The foundry is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain...
, round off the set.
The
Swan Bells are a set of eighteen
bellA bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
s hanging in a specially built -high
copperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29.It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is rather soft and malleable and a freshly-exposed surface has a pinkish or peachy color...
and
glassIn general Glass refers to a solid, brittle, transparent material, commonly used for windows, bottles, or eyewear. Examples of glassy materials include, but are not limited to, soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, acrylic glass, sugar glass, Muscovy-glass, or aluminium oxynitride. The term glass...
campanileCampanile is an Italian word meaning "bell tower" . The term applies to bell towers which are either part of a larger building or free-standing, although in American English, the latter meaning has become prevalent.The most famous campanile is probably the Leaning Tower of Pisa...
in
Perth, Western AustraliaPerth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. With a population of 1,650,000 , Perth ranks fourth amongst the nation's cities, with a growth rate consistently above the national average....
. Taking their name from the
Swan RiverThe Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. Its lower reaches are relatively wide and deep, with few constrictions, while the upper reaches are usually quite narrow and shallow.-Course:...
, which their tower overlooks, and forming a sixteen-bell peal with two extra
chromaticThe chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone or half step apart. "A chromatic scale is a nondiatonic scale consisting entirely of half-step intervals," having, "no tonic," due to the symmetry or equal spacing of its tones....
notes, they are one of the largest sets of
change ringingChange ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called "changes". It differs from many other forms of campanology in that no attempt is made to produce a conventional melody....
bells in the world.
Twelve of the set are historic
bellA bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
s from
St Martin-in-the-FieldsSt. Martin-in-the-Fields is an Anglican church at the northeast corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Its patron is Saint Martin of Tours.-Roman era:Excavations at the site in 2006 led to the discovery of a grave dated about 410...
church in
Trafalgar SquareTrafalgar Square is a square in central London, England. With its position in the heart of London, it is a tourist attraction; and one of the most famous squares in the United Kingdom and the world. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base...
in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
; six others, cast in recent times by the
Whitechapel Bell FoundryThe Whitechapel Bell Foundry is a bell foundry in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. The foundry is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain...
, round off the set. The St Martin-in-the-Fields bells were donated to the State of Western Australia as part of the 1988 Australian bicentenary celebrations; the additional bells were cast with a subsequent donation of metals mined in
Western AustraliaWestern Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. Australia's largest state and the second largest subnational entity in the world, it has 2.2 million inhabitants , 85% of whom live in the south-west corner of the state.The state's capital...
. The six newer bells include five which were presented to the
University of Western AustraliaThe University of Western Australia is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia. Established in February 1911, it is the only university in the state to be a member of the prestigious Group of Eight, as well as the Sandstone universities. The University was established under and is...
, the City of Perth and to the people of Western Australia from the
City of LondonThe City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
, the
City of WestminsterThe City of Westminster is a borough of London with city status. It is located west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, and forms part of Inner London and the bulk of London's central area....
and a consortium of British and Australian mining companies, and one bell commissioned by the Western Australian Government.
An inlaid path made of ceramic tiles surrounds the tower. These come from nearly every school in
Western AustraliaWestern Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. Australia's largest state and the second largest subnational entity in the world, it has 2.2 million inhabitants , 85% of whom live in the south-west corner of the state.The state's capital...
and are arranged alphabetically by school name. Each school's tile lists students at that school in the year of 1999. Each child has written his or her name as a contribution to the Swan Bells.
The site is now a tourist attraction for the City; since its opening on December 10 2000, almost 1 million people have visited.
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
RudhallRudhall of Gloucester was a family business of bell founders in the city of Gloucester, England, who between 1684 and 1835 produced over 5,000 bells. The business was founded by Abraham Rudhall and the earliest ring of bells he cast was for St Nicholas' Church, Oddington in 1684. He came to be...
family of bell founders from
GloucesterGloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
. Due to be recast leading up to 1988, they were tuned and restored at London's Whitechapel Bell Foundry and donated to Western Australia. 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 CookCaptain James Cook, FRS RN , was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy...
set sail on the voyage that founded Australia.
| Bell specifications |
| Bell Number |
Weight
(kg) |
Note In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#a sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#a pitched sound itself....
|
Casting Date |
| Treble |
241 |
D# |
1998 |
| 2 |
238 |
C# |
1988 |
| 3 |
263 |
B# |
1988 |
| Flat 3 |
261 |
B |
1988 |
| 4 |
254 |
A# |
1988 |
| 5 |
279 |
G# |
1758 |
| 6 |
263 |
F# |
1770 |
| 7 |
284 |
E# |
1758 |
| 8 |
300 |
D# |
1725 |
| 9 |
370 |
C# |
1725 |
| 10 |
390 |
B# |
1725 |
| Flat 10 |
453 |
B |
1988 |
| 11 |
486 |
A# |
1725 |
| 12 |
589 |
G# |
1725 |
| 13 |
728 |
F# |
1725 |
| 14 |
831 |
E# |
1725 |
| 15 |
1,088 |
D# |
1726 |
| Tenor |
1,480 |
C# |
1726 |
Some think that the children's
nursery rhymeThe term nursery rhyme is used for ‘traditional’ songs for young children in Britain and many English speaking countries, but usage only dates from the nineteenth century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...
"
Oranges and Lemons"Oranges and Lemons" is an English nursery rhyme and singing game which refers to the bells of several churches, all within or close to the City of London. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as #3190.-Lyrics:Common modern versions include:...
" 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 OrgarSt Martin Orgar was a church in the City of London in Martin Lane, off Cannon Street, most famous as being one of the churches mentioned in the nursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemons". Most of the building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, but the tower and part of the nave were left...
, near
Cannon StreetCannon Street is a road in the south of the City of London. It runs roughly parallel with the River Thames, and about 250 metres north of it. It is the site of the ancient London Stone.-Etymology:...
, which no longer exists. This St Martins was in Martin Lane, a street that was once notorious for
moneylenderA moneylender offers small personal loans at high rates of interest, usually higher rates than the market rate charged on credit cards or on bank overdrafts...
s.
The Bell Tower
The tower was designed by the local architects Hames Sharley. The 18 bells have a combined weight of about nine tonnes and, when rung, exert considerable forces on the support structure. To achieve the required stiffness, the six-storey bell chamber was made with
reinforced concreteReinforced concrete is concrete in which steel reinforcement bars , plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen a material that would otherwise be brittle.-History:...
cast
in situ. The bell chamber was designed by the consulting structural engineering firm ARUP.
Soundproof louvres and doors are used to muffle the sound or direct the noise towards the city or the river as required.
The glass-clad spire is designed using spokes which radiate horizontally from a centrally positioned axle, declining in width as it rises to a point. The solid steel columns of the spire are rectangular and the concrete bell chamber is enveloped in -high copper sails and glass.
The redeveloped Barrack Square precinct which surrounds the tower includes reflection pools as well as cafes, restaurants, shops and cycling and walking paths.
Controversy
The
A$The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
5.5 million building was said to be built to commemorate the new millennium, but at the time the government and the then
Premier of Western AustraliaThe Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions...
,
Richard CourtRichard Fairfax Court AC , was a Western Australian politician, representing the seat of Nedlands in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for the Liberal Party of Australia from 1982 to 2001. He served as Premier of Western Australia from 1993 to 2001.Court was born into an old political...
, received a fair amount of criticism from locals who opposed it, calling it a wasteful expenditure. However, it remains one of the only 'icon' millennium projects that came in on time, on budget and is still open.