Church bell#Types

File:JEAN-FRANÇOIS MILLET - El Ángelus (Museo de Orsay, 1857-1859. Óleo sobre lienzo, 55.5 x 66 cm).jpg, depicting prayer at the sound of the bell (in the steeple on the horizon) ringing a canonical hour.]]

Oriental Orthodox Christians, such as Copts and Indians, use a breviary such as the Agpeya and Shehimo to pray the canonical hours seven times a day while facing in the eastward direction; church bells are tolled, especially in monasteries, to mark these seven fixed prayer times.{{cite web |title=What is the relationship between bells and the church? When and where did the tradition begin? Should bells ring in every church? |url=https://www.suscopts.org/q&a/index.php?qid=1484&catid=386 |publisher=Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States |access-date=August 8, 2020 |language=en |date=2020}}{{cite book |author1=Mary Cecil |author-link=Mary Cecil, 2nd Baroness Amherst of Hackney |title=A Sketch of Egyptian History from the Earliest Times to the Present Day |date=1906 |publisher=Methuen |page=399 |language=en |quote=Prayers 7 times a day are enjoined, and the most strict among the Copts recite one of more of the Psalms of David each time they pray. They always wash their hands and faces before devotions, and turn to the East.}}

In Christianity, some churches ring their church bells from belltowers three times a day, at 9 am, noon and 3 pm to summon the Christian faithful to recite the Lord's Prayer;{{cite book |author= George Herbert Dryer|title=History of the Christian Church|publisher=Curts & Jennings|year=1897|quote= …every church-bell in Christendom to be tolled three times a day, and all Christians to repeat Pater Nosters (The Lord's Prayer)}}{{cite web |author= Joan Huyser-Honig|title=Uncovering the Blessing of Fixed-Hour Prayer|url=https://worship.calvin.edu/resources/resource-library/uncovering-the-blessing-of-fixed-hour-prayer|publisher=Calvin Institute of Christian Worship|year=2006|quote=Early Christians prayed the Lord's Prayer three times a day. Medieval church bells called people to common prayer.}}{{cite web |title=Church bells |url=https://wels.net/faq/church-bells/ |publisher=Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod |access-date=August 8, 2020 |language=en |date=July 25, 2017}} the injunction to pray the Lord's prayer thrice daily was given in Didache 8, 2 f.,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BqnmVGo6jA8C&pg=PA225 |title=Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Volume 8|author=Gerhard Kittel|author2=Gerhard Friedrich|page=224|publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|year=1972|access-date=October 26, 2012|quote=The praying of the Lord's Prayer three times a day in Did., 8, 2 f. is connected with the Jewish practice --> 218, 3 ff.; II, 801, 16 ff.; the altering of other Jewish customs is demanded in the context.|isbn=9780802822505}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PVCUZ7BTD2gC&pg=PA193 |title=Calendar, Chronology, and Worship: Studies in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity|author=Roger T. Beckwith|page=193|publisher=Brill Publishers|year=2005|access-date=October 26, 2012|quote=The Church had now two hours of prayer, observed individually on weekdays and corporately on Sundays – yet the Old Testament spoke of three daily hours of prayer, and the Church itself had been saying the Lord's Prayer three times a day.|isbn=9004146032}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m_OShrBh0I0C&pg=PA91 |title=Matthew: A Shorter Commentary|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|year=2005|access-date=August 16, 2012|quote= Moreover, the central portion of the Eighteen Benedictions, just like the Lord's Prayer, falls into two distinct parts (in the first half the petitions are for the individuals, in the second half for the nation); and early Christian tradition instructs believers to say the Lord's Prayer three times a day (Did. 8.3) while standing (Apost. const. 7.24), which precisely parallels what the rabbis demanded for the Eighteen Benedictions.|isbn=9780567082497}} which, in turn, was influenced by the Jewish practice of praying thrice daily found in the Old Testament, specifically in {{bibleverse||Psalm|55:17|KJV}}, which suggests "morning and evening plus at noon", and {{bibleverse||Daniel|6:10|KJV}}, in which the prophet Daniel prays thrice a day.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MURUzRlz-hoC&pg=PT104 |title=Introduction to Christian Worship 3rd Edition: Revised and Enlarged|author=James F White|publisher=Abingdon Press|date=September 1, 2010|access-date=October 12, 2012|quote=Late in the first century or early in the second, the Didache advised Christians to pray the Lord's prayer three times a day. Others sought disciplines in the Bible itself as ways to make the scriptural injunction to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17) practical. Psalm 55:17 suggested "evening and morning and at noon," and Daniel prayed three times a day (Dan. 6:10).|isbn=9781426722851}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cymM4xEM76wC&pg=PA588 |title=Catechism Of The Catholic Church |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|year=1999|access-date=September 2, 2014|isbn=0-860-12324-3|quote=Late in the first century or early in the second, the Didache advised Christians to pray the Lord's prayer three times a day. Others sought disciplines in the Bible itself as ways to make the scriptural injunction to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17) practical. Psalm 55:17 suggested "evening and morning and at noon," and Daniel prayed three times a day (Dan. 6:10).}} The early Christians thus came to pray the Lord's Prayer at 9 am, noon and 3 pm.{{cite book |last1=Beckwith |first1=Roger T. |title=Calendar, Chronology And Worship: Studies in Ancient Judaism And Early Christianity |date=2005 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-14603-7 |language=en |quote=So three minor hours of prayer were developed, at the third, sixth and ninth hours, which, as Dugmore points out, were ordinary divisions of the day for worldly affairs, and the Lord's Prayer was transferred to those hours.}}

File:Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris nef nouvelles cloches.jpg of Notre Dame de Paris on display in the nave in February 2013 before being hung in the towers of the cathedral.]]

Many Catholic Christian churches ring their bells thrice a day, at 6 am, noon, and 6 pm to call the faithful to recite the Angelus, a prayer recited in honour of the Incarnation of God.{{cite book|author=John P. Anderson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XVktuDe1aHUC&pg=PA93 |title=Joyce's Finnegans Wake: The Curse of Kabbalah, Volume 2 |publisher=Universal Publishers|year=2009|access-date=August 16, 2012|quote= The Angelus is a Christian devotion in memory of the Incarnation. Its name is derived from the opening words, Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ. It consists of three Biblical verses describing the mystery, recited as versicle and response, alternating with the salutation "Hail Mary!" and traditionally is recited in Catholic churches, convents and monasteries three times daily, 6 am, noon and 6 pm, accompanied by the ringing of the Angelus bell. Some High Church Anglican and Lutheran churches also use the devotion.|isbn = 9781599429014}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jN4wspXqHBkC&pg=PA728 |title=The Anglican Service Book: A Traditional Language Adaptation of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, Together with the Psalter Or Psalms of David and Additional Devotions|publisher=Good Shepherd Press|date=September 1, 1991|access-date=August 16, 2012|quote= The Angelus: In many churches the bell is run morning, noon, and evening in memory of the Incarnation of God, and the faithful say the following prayers, except during Eastertide, when the Regina coeli is said.|isbn=9780962995507}}

Some Protestant Christian Churches ring church bells during the congregational recitation of the Lord's Prayer, after the sermon, in order to alert those who are unable to be present to "unite themselves in spirit with the congregation".{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/NewSchaffHerzogEncyclopediaOfReligiousKnowledgeVolumeIAachenBasiliansPhilipSchaff/New%20Schaff-Herzog%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Religious%20Knowledge%20Volume%20II%20-%20Basilica%20-%20Chambers%20%28Philip%20Schaff%29#page/n119/mode/2up/search/bell |title=The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Thought: Basilica-Chambers, Volume 2 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing|date=1952 |quote=The main use of bells has always been to announce the time of public worship. It is also a common Roman Catholic practise to ring the church bell at the consecration in the mass, as in some Protestant localities at the Lord's Prayer after the sermon, that those who are absent may unite themselves in spirit with the congregation.|page=117}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XAdFFePWliUC&pg=PA223 |title=The Valley's Legends & Legacies IV|publisher=Quill Driver Books|date=May 30, 2002|access-date=October 26, 2012|quote=At the end of the sermon, both bells began to ring and continued ringing through the Lord's Prayer.|page=223|isbn=9781884995217}}

In many historic Christian Churches, church bells are also rung on All Hallows' Eve,{{cite book|last=Bannatyne|first=Lesley|title=Halloween |date=August 31, 1998|publisher=Pelican Publishing Company|language=en |isbn=9781455605538|page=22|quote=Priests in tiny Spanish villages still ring their church bells to remind parishioners to honor the dead on All Hallows Eve.}} as well as during the processions of Candlemas and Palm Sunday;{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XSOyfy061SQC&pg=PA76 |title= Church Words: Origins and Meanings|publisher= Forward Movement|date=August 1, 1996|access-date=August 16, 2012|quote= It is also traditional that the church bells ring during the processions of Candlemas (the Feast of the Purification) and Palm Sunday.|isbn= 9780880281720}} the only time of the Christian Year when church bells are not rung include Maundy Thursday through the Easter Vigil.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XSOyfy061SQC&pg=PA76 |title= Church Words: Origins and Meanings|publisher= Forward Movement|date=August 1, 1996|access-date=August 16, 2012|quote= It is traditional that no bells be rung from the last service on Maundy Thursday until the Great Vigil of Easter.|isbn= 9780880281720}} The Christian tradition of the ringing of church bells from a belltower is analogous to the Islamic tradition of the adhan from a minaret.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XSOyfy061SQC&pg=PA76 |title= Church Words: Origins and Meanings|publisher= Psychology Press|date=August 1, 1996|access-date=August 16, 2012|quote= But even for Muslims who pray infrequently, the adhan marks the passage of time through the day (in much the same way as church bells do in many Christian communities) and serves as a constant reminder that they are living in a Muslim community.|isbn= 9780880281720}}{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780761479260 |url-access= registration |page= [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780761479260/page/77 77] |title= Islamic Beliefs, Practices, and Cultures|publisher= Marshal Cavendish|date=September 1, 2010|access-date=August 16, 2012|quote= Muslims living in predominantly Islamic lands, however, have the benefit of the call to prayer (adhan). In the same way that much of the Christian world traditionally used bells to summon the faithful to church services, so the early Muslim community developed its own method of informing the community that the time for prayer had arrived.|isbn= 9780761479260}}

Most Christian denominations ring church bells to call the faithful to worship, signalling the start of a Mass or service of worship.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XSOyfy061SQC&pg=PA76 |title= Church Words: Origins and Meanings|publisher= Forward Movement|date=August 1, 1996|access-date=August 16, 2012|quote= It became customary to ring the church bells to call the faithful to worship and on other important occasions, such as the death of a parishioner.|isbn= 9780880281720}}

File:St Bees bells in up position.jpg bells in England in the "up" position.]]

In the United Kingdom predominantly in the Anglican church, there is a strong tradition of change ringing on full-circle tower bells for about half an hour before a service. This originated from the early 17th century when bell ringers found that swinging a bell through a large arc gave more control over the time between successive strikes of the clapper. This culminated in ringing bells through a full circle, which let ringers easily produce different striking sequences; known as changes.

In Christianity, the ringing of church bells is traditionally believed to drive out demons and other unclean spirits. Inscriptions on church bells relating to this purpose of church bells, as well as the purpose of serving as a call to prayer and worship, were customary, for example "the sound of this bell vanquishes tempests, repels demons, and summons men". Some churches have several bells with the justification that "the more bells a church had, the more loudly they rang, and the greater the distance over which they could be heard, the less likely it was that evil forces would trouble the parish."{{cite book|last1=Fanthorpe|first1=Lionel |last2=Fanthorpe|first2=Patricia|title=The World's Most Mysterious Objects|date=October 1, 2002|publisher=Dundurn|language=en|isbn=9781770707580|page=100}}

File:Half muffled bell.jpgThe ringing of a church bell in the English tradition to announce a death is called a death knell. The pattern of striking depended on the person who had died; for example in the counties of Kent and Surrey in England it was customary to ring three times three strokes for a man and three times two for a woman, with a varying usage for children.{{Cite book |last = Stahlschmidt | first = J. C. L. | url = https://archive.org/details/churchbellsofken00stah | title = The Church Bells of Kent: Their Inscriptions, Founders, Uses and Traditions | page = [https://archive.org/details/churchbellsofken00stah/page/126 126] | location = London | publisher = Elliot Stock | date = 1887}} The age of the deceased was then rung out. In small settlements this could effectively identify who had just died.H B Walters, The Church bells of England. published 1912 and republished 1977 by Oxford University Press. pp156-160

There were three occasions surrounding a death when bells could be rung. There was the "Passing Bell" to warn of impending death, the second the Death Knell to announce the death, and the last was the "Lych Bell", or "Corpse Bell" which was rung at the funeral as the procession approached the church. This latter is known today as the Funeral toll.

A more modern tradition where there are full-circle bells is to use "half-muffles" when sounding one bell as a tolled bell, or all the bells in change-ringing. This means a leather muffle is placed on the clapper of each bell so that there is a loud "open" strike followed by a muffled strike, which has a very sonorous and mournful effect. The tradition in the United Kingdom is that bells are only fully muffled for the death of a sovereign. A slight variant on this rule occurred in 2015 when the bones of Richard III of England were interred in Leicester Cathedral 532 years after his death.{{YouTube|bC_hFZPVVEQ|Bob Triples, fully muffled bells}}

File:Sacring ring of St. Jude Thaddeus Church in San Leonardo, Nueva Ecija.jpg

The term "Sanctus bell" traditionally referred to a bell suspended in a bell-cot at the apex of the nave roof, over the chancel arch, or hung in the church tower, in medieval churches. This bell has been rung at the singing of the Sanctus and again at the elevation of the consecrated elements, to indicate to those not present in the building that the moment of consecration had been reached. The practice and the term remain in common use in many Traditional Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican churches.

Within the body of a church the function of a sanctus bell can also be performed by a small hand bell or set of such bells (called altar bells) rung shortly before the consecration of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ and again when the consecrated elements are shown to the people.General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 150 Sacring rings or "Gloria wheels" are commonly used in Catholic churches in Spain and its former colonies for this purpose.Herrera, Matthew D. (2005). [http://www.adoremus.org/0305SantusBells.html Sanctus Bells. Their History and Use in the Catholic Church] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308014749/http://www.adoremus.org/0305SantusBells.html |date=March 8, 2012 }}. Adoremus Bulletin. Retrieved on November 11, 2014.

File:Tampereen ortodoksinen kirkko 4 ulkoseinän ikoni ja kello.jpg in Tampere, Finland]]

In the Eastern Orthodox Church there is a long and complex history of bell ringing, with particular bells being rung in particular ways to signify different parts of the divine services, Funeral tolls, etc. This custom is particularly sophisticated in the Russian Orthodox Church. Russian bells are usually stationary, and are sounded by pulling on a rope that is attached to the clapper so that it will strike the inside of the bell.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

{{refimprove section|date=March 2024}}

The noon church bell tolling in Europe has a specific historical significance that has its roots in the Siege of Belgrade (Nándorfehérvár at the time)by the Ottomans in 1456. Initially, the bell ringing was intended as a call to prayer for the victory of the defenders of Belgrade. However, because in many European countries the news of victory arrived before the order for prayer, the ringing of the church bells was believed to be in celebration of the victory. As a result, the significance of noon bell ringing is now a commemoration of John Hunyadi's victory against the Turks.{{Cite web |date=2006-06-12 |title=Ottoman-Hungarian Wars: Siege of Belgrade in 1456 |url=https://www.historynet.com/ottoman-hungarian-wars-siege-of-belgrade-in-1456/ |access-date=2022-08-10 |website=HistoryNet |language=en-US}}{{dubious|reason=see canonical hours, above; the custom of ringing church bells at noon predates these events by well over a millenium|date=March 2024}}

Some churches have a clock chime which uses a turret clock to broadcast the time by striking the hours and sometimes the quarters. A well-known musical striking pattern is the Westminster Quarters. This is only done when the bells are stationary, and the clock mechanism actuates hammers striking on the outside of the sound-bows of the bells. In the cases of bells which are normally swung for other ringing, there is a manual lock-out mechanism which prevents the hammers from operating whilst the bells are being rung.

In World War II in Great Britain, all church bells were silenced, to ring only to inform of an invasion by enemy troops.{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/19/a4036619.shtml |title=Recollections of a Wartime Childhood |work=WW2 People's War |author=Age Concern Shropshire |publisher=BBC |date=9 May 2005}} However this ban was lifted temporarily in 1942 by order of Winston Churchill. Starting with Easter Sunday, April 25, 1943, the Control of Noise (Defence) (No. 2) Order, 1943, allowed that church bells could be rung to summon worshippers to church on Sundays, Good Friday and Christmas Day.{{Hansard|url=1943/apr/20/ringing-of-church-bells |house=lords |access-date=July 2, 2021}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ringbell.co.uk/info/WarBells.htm |title=Ban on Ringing of Church Bells during WW2}} On May 27, 1943, all restrictions were removed.{{Hansard|url=1943/may/27/church-bell-ringing-removal-of |title=Church Bell Ringing (Removal of Restrictions) |access-date=July 2, 2021}}

In the 2021 German floods it was reported that church bells were rung to warn inhabitants of coming floods.{{cite web |url=https://apnews.com/article/europe-business-floods-acd9448c228ed0c457597937f3b69366 |title = Residents say flood-hit German towns got little warning {{!}} AP News|website = Associated Press|date = July 24, 2021}} In Beyenburg in Wuppertal the last friar of Steinhaus Abbey rang the storm bells after other systems failed.{{Cite news|url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/left-to-their-own-defenses-catastrophic-flooding-spotlights-germany-s-poor-disaster-preparedness-a-b3821147-97d2-4f23-951c-0206bd9ff9b2|title=Catastrophic Flooding Spotlights Germany's Poor Disaster Preparedness|newspaper=Der Spiegel|date=July 23, 2021|last1=Gathmann|first1=Florian}} Some church bells are being used in England for similar purposes.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-devon-47350638 |title = Starcross SOS church bells to warn of flood - BBC News|work = BBC News|date = February 24, 2019}}

{{Infobox Instrument

|name=Bell

|image=Parts of a Bell.svg

|image_capt=Parts of a typical tower bell hung for swinging: {{nowrap|1. yoke, or headstock}} {{nowrap|2. canons,}} {{nowrap|3. crown,}} {{nowrap|4. shoulder,}} {{nowrap|5. waist,}} {{nowrap|6. sound bow,}} {{nowrap|7. lip,}} {{nowrap|8. mouth,}} {{nowrap|9. clapper,}} {{nowrap|10. bead line}}}}

{{main|Bell#Styles of ringing}}

{{See also|Bell-founding}}

File:English full circle bell mechanism.png

Christian church bells have the form of a cup-shaped cast metal resonator with a flared thickened rim, and a pivoted clapper hanging from its centre inside. It is usually mounted high in a bell tower on top of the church, so it can be heard by the surrounding community. The bell is suspended from a headstock which can swing on bearings. A rope is tied to a wheel or lever on the headstock, and hangs down to the bell ringer. To ring the bell, the ringer pulls on the rope, swinging the bell. The motion causes the clapper to strike the inside of the bell rim as it swings, thereby sounding the bell. Some bells have full-circle wheels, which is used to swing the bell through a larger arc, such as in the United Kingdom where full- circle ringing is practised.

Bells which are not swung are "chimed", which means they are struck by an external hammer, or by a rope attached to the internal clapper, which is the tradition in Russia.

File:Vinko Puljić u Podmilačju 5838.JPG

In some churches, bells are often blessed before they are hung.

In the Roman Catholic Church the name Baptism of Bells has been given to the ceremonial blessing of church bells, at least in France, since the eleventh century. It is derived from the washing of the bell with holy water by the bishop, before he anoints it with the "oil of the infirm" without and with chrism within; a fuming censer is placed under it and the bishop prays that these sacramentals of the Church may, at the sound of the bell, put the demons to flight, protect from storms, and call the faithful to prayer.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

:See European medieval musical instruments, percussion

Before the introduction of church bells into the Christian Church, different methods were used to call the worshippers: playing trumpets, hitting semantrons (wooden planks), shouting, or using a courier.{{Cite book |last=Buse |first=Adolf |title=S. Paulin évêque de Nole et son siècle (350-450) |publisher=H. Casterman |year=1858 |location=Paris |pages=415–418 |language=fr |translator-last=Dancoisne |translator-first=L.}} In AD 604, Pope Sabinian officially sanctioned the usage of bells.{{Cite web |last=Roger J. Smith |year=1997 |title=Church Bells |url=http://www.awakentoprayer.org/church_bells.htm |publisher=Sacred Heart Catholic Church and St. Yves Mission |quote=Bells came into use in our churches as early as the year 400, and their introduction is ascribed to Paulinus, bishop of Nola, a town of Campania, in Italy. Their use spread rapidly, as in those unsettled times the church-bell was useful not only for summoning the faithful to religious services, but also for giving an alarm when danger threatened. Their use was sanctioned in 604 by Pope Sabinian, and a ceremony for blessing them was established a little later. Very large bells, for church towers, were probably not in common use until the eleventh century. |access-date=October 26, 2012 |archive-date=December 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207150201/http://www.awakentoprayer.org/church_bells.htm |url-status=dead }}{{Cite book |last=Henry Beauchamp Walters |url=https://archive.org/details/churchbells00waltgoog |title=Church Bells |publisher=A. R. Mowbray & Company |year=1908 |page=[https://archive.org/details/churchbells00waltgoog/page/n20 4]}} These tintinnabula were made from forged metal and did not have large dimensions. Larger bells were made at the end of the 7th and during the 8th century by casting metal originating from Campania. The bells consequently took the name of campana and nola from the eponymous city in the region. This would explain the attribution of the origin of church bells to Paulinus of Nola in AD 400.{{Cite book |last1=Kathy Luty |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-nmAinYFJ0C&pg=PT133 |title=Clip Notes for Church Bulletins - Volume 1 |last2=David Philippart |year=1997 | publisher=LiturgyTrainingPublications |isbn=9781568541693 |quote=The first known use of bells in churches was by a bishop named Paulinus in the year 400.}} By the early Middle Ages, church bells became common in Europe, wrung singly (cymbalum) or in tuned sets (cymbalum).{{Cite web |title=The Catholic Encyclopedia: Bells |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02418b.htm | website =New Advent}}

They were first common in northern Europe, quadrangular sheet-metal bells, reflecting Celtic influence, especially that of Irish missionaries. Before the use of church bells, Greek monasteries would ring a flat metal plate (see semantron) to announce services. The signa and campanae used to announce services before Irish influence may have been flat plates like the semantron rather than bells. The oldest surviving circle of bells in Great Britain is housed in St Lawrence Church, Ipswich.{{Cite news |last=Worthington |first=Mark |date=September 10, 2009 |title=Oldest ring of bells played again |agency=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8247631.stm |access-date=September 10, 2009}}

As bells became more numerous, they were hung sets called cymbala (related to both chimes and cymbals) and played with a hammer.{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last= Sadie |editor-first= Stanley |author1= James W. Mc Kinnon|author2= Robert Anderson |entry= Cymbalum |encyclopedia= The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments |year=1984 |volume=1 |pages=532-533}} Images "usually show from four and eight bells", but also as many as 15.The Hunterian Psalter shows a grouping of 15, played by two people. :File:Kind David tuning harp while musicians play bells, detail from Glasgow University Library MS Hunter 229 (U.3.2), folio 21V.jpg

The evocative sound of church bells has inspired many writers, both in poetry and prose. One example is an early poem by the English poet Letitia Elizabeth Landon entitled simply, {{ws|Bells}}{{cite book|last =Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Literary Gazette, 1821|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=bmkyAQAAMAAJ&pg=GBS.PA600|year=1821|section=Original poetry|page=601|publisher=The Proprietors, Wellington Street, Strand.}} She returned to the subject towards the end of her life in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1839 with {{ws|The Village Bells}}, a poetical illustration to a picture by J. Franklin.{{cite book|last =Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1839|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=ufpcAAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PA76|section=picture|year=1838|publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.}}{{cite book|last =Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1839|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=ufpcAAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PA54|section=poetical illustration|year=1838|publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.}} How Soft the Music of those Village Bells.

{{See also|Loudspeakers in mosques#Opposition|Shabbat siren#Criticism}}

The sound of church bells is capable of causing noise that interrupts or prevents people from sleeping. A 2013 study from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich found that "an estimated 2.5-3.5 percent of the population in the Canton of Zurich experiences at least one additional awakening per night due to church bell noise." It concluded that "the number of awakenings could be reduced by more than 99 percent by, for example, suspending church bell ringing between midnight and 06 h in the morning", or by "about 75 percent (...) by reducing the sound-pressure levels of bells by 5 dB."{{Cite journal |last1=Omlin |first1=S. |last2=Brink |first2=M. |date=October 2013 |title=Awakening effects of church bell noise: geographical extrapolation of the results of a polysomnographic field study 1. |journal=Noise & Health |publisher=Medknow Publications |volume=15 |issue=66 |pages=332–41 |doi=10.4103/1463-1741.116582 |pmid=23955130 |doi-access=free }}

In the Netherlands there have been lawsuits about church bell noise pollution experienced by nearby residents.{{Cite news |url=https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/editienl/laatste-videos-editienl/video/4801871/kerkklok-op-mute |title=Kerkklok op mute |work=RTL Nieuws |date=August 2, 2019 |access-date=October 8, 2019}} The complaints are usually, but not always, raised by new local residents (or tourists who spend the night in the neighbourhood{{Cite news |url=https://www.hartvannederland.nl/nieuws/2018/kerkklok-beiert-hotelgasten-wakker/ |title=Kerkklok beiert hotelgasten wakker |work=Hart van Nederland |date=May 12, 2018 |access-date=October 8, 2019}}) who are not used to the noise at night or during the day.

Image:Lullusglocke.jpg|Lullusglocke, cast in 1038, in monastery of Bad Hersfeld in Hesse, Germany

Image:Torun Tuba Dei 02.JPG|Tuba Dei bell in Cathedral in Toruń, Poland, cast in 1500

Image:Kraków, Dzwon Zygmunta - fotopolska.eu (227571).jpg|Sigismund Bell in Kraków, Poland, cast in 1520 by Hans Beham

Image:Pummerin Stephansdom Vienna July 2008 (14).JPG|Pummerin in Stephansdom, Vienna

Image:Tsar Kolokol with humans for perspective.JPG|Tsar Bell in Moscow, Russia, the heaviest existing bell in the world (over 196 tons)

Image:St Xaviers church peyad Belgium bell.jpg|Belgian-made bell of St. Xavier's Church, Peyad, Trivandrum, Kerala, India

Image:Church bell of the Cathedral Church of Saint Matthew at Dallas.jpg|Bell in the Cathedral Church of Saint Matthew, Dallas, Texas

Image:CathedralCologneBell.jpg|Bell in Cologne Cathedral

File:Suomenlinna Church bell.jpg|Bell in Suomenlinna Church

Image:16 21 2668 san miguel.jpg|Bell for San Miguel Mission

Image:Ipatios monastery Kostroma 19.jpg|Ringing the bells at Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma, Russia.

Image:Bells in the tower - geograph.org.uk - 1369287.jpg|Ring of eight bells in the tower of St Michael and All Angels' parish church, Blewbury, Oxfordshire

Cloche dans l'église Saint-Jacques de Tournai (DSCF8555).jpg|Bell in the Saint-Jacques church of Tournai

File:Church bells of Ulm Minster (2019).jpg|Church bells of Ulm Minster seen from above (2019)

{{Portal|Christianity}}

• Bellfounding
• Bolognese bell ringing art
• Campanology
• Central Council of Church Bell Ringers
• Change ringing
• Handbells
• Loudspeakers in mosques
• Ring of bells
• Russian Orthodox bell ringing
• Veronese bellringing art

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{commons category-inline}}
• [https://washingtonringingsociety.org/galleries/animations Animation of English Full-circle church bell ringing]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KYWtFeQzyw Video of English full circle-ringing, 8 bells half muffled and one bell tolling]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlxfmA7FJ9E Video of English full circle-ringing, 8 bells ringing "open"]
• [http://www.hibberts.co.uk/ Sound of Bells - An Investigation into their tuning]
• [http://www.math.bas.bg/bells/belleng.html Research and Identification of Valuable Bells of the Historic and Culture Heritage of Bulgaria and Development of Audio and Video Archive with Advanced Technologies]
• [http://www.bellringingcentral.co.uk Bell-Ringing Central]
• [http://cityark.medway.gov.uk/query/results/?Mode=ShowImg&Img=/cityark/Scans/Unofficial_or_Privately_Originated_Collections/DE0402_Couchman_ephemera_and_MSS_/DE0402_16.html/DE402_16_44L.jpg Old archive image of church bells in Chatham, Kent, England, ca.1900]
• [https://sites.google.com/site/allsaintsbells/ All Saints Bell Tower]

{{Bells}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Bells (percussion)

Category:Campanology