The Swan Bells are a set of 18

bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

s hanging in a specially built copper and glass

campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia. The tower is commonly known as The Bell Tower or the Swan Bell Tower. Taking their name from the Swan River, which their tower overlooks, and forming a sixteen-bell peal with two extra chromatic notes, they are the second largest set of

change ringing Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuning (music), tuned bell (instrument), bells in a tightly controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive striking sequences, known as "changes". This can be by method ringing in ...

bells in the

world The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

, the largest being

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Christ Church Cathedral, more formally The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (Irish: ''Ardeaglais Theampall Chríost''), is the cathedral of the Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough, United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the e ...

, which has 19 bells. Twelve of the set are historic bells from

St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, there has been a church on the site since at least the medieval pe ...

church in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

; six others, cast in recent times by the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...

, 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 Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The six newer bells include five that were presented to the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

, the

City of Perth The City of Perth is a local government areas of Western Australia, local government area and body, within the Perth metropolitan area, which is the capital of Western Australia. The local government is commonly known as Perth City Council. T ...

and to the people of Western Australia by the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large par ...

and a consortium of British and Australian mining companies, and one bell commissioned by the Western Australian Government.

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 Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

and again between 1725 and 1770 by members of the Rudhall family of bell founders from

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

. Due to be recast leading up to 1870 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 Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

set sail on the voyage in which he reached

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

The bell tower

The tower was designed by the local architects Hames Sharley. The 18 bells have a combined weight of about and, when rung, exert considerable forces on the support structure. To achieve the required rigidity, the six-story bell chamber was made with

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

cast ''in situ''. The bell chamber was designed by the 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 that 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 copper sails and glass. The redeveloped Barrack Square along Barrack Street precinct, which surrounds the tower, includes reflection pools as well as cafes, restaurants, shops and cycling and walking paths. An inlaid path made of ceramic tiles initially surrounded the tower, with each tile consisting of a list of some of the youngest and oldest cohorts of students from nearly every school in Western Australia from 1999, arranged alphabetically by school name. , the tiles were removed as part of the Elizabeth Quay project, but have since been reinstalled in a new artwork to the east of the tower. In 2018, to commemorate the centenary of the World War One armistice on 11 November, a large bell was cast by VEEM Limited, Canning Vale. Unlike the other bells in the tower, this is swung electronically using a motor, supplied by a Belgian firm. It is known as the ''Great ANZAC Bell''. Since 2013 the area around Barrack Street Jetty has undergone redevelopment; this included removal of part of the reflecting pool and creation of a boardwalk in front of the Bell Tower. The work is part of a larger foreshore project that also incorporates the Elizabeth Quay development.

Controversy

The building, equivalent to in , was built to commemorate the new

millennium A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...

, but at the time the government and the

Premier of Western Australia The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive br ...

, Richard Court, received a fair amount of criticism from locals who opposed it, calling it a wasteful expenditure. However, 15 years after the opening, Peter Offen of Heritage Perth stated that the tower was a success, as it had become a tourist draw and had made Perth a worldwide destination for campanologists.

Gallery

References

External links