St Bart’s bell tolls to mark Queen’s Jubilee

Posted on by revtkevind

It weighs the best part of a tonne and it marked the accession to the throne of Queen Elizabeth I in 1558.

Now the bell in St Bartholomew’s Parish Church in Stranmillis in south Belfast will toll again to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

It is more than three feet (0.9m) in diameter and it was one of an original ring of eight in St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral in Dublin.

It was presented to Belfast church in 1938 after the original peel in the cathedral was replaced.

The Rector of St Bartholomew’s, the Reverend Ron Elsdon, said it is a historic piece of cast iron which has been ringing the changes at important occasions for over four centuries.

“It was rung in 1558 on the occasion of the accession to the throne of the first Queen Elizabeth. It was rung thirty years later to mark the defeat of the Spanish Armada and in 1690 after the Battle of the Boyne.

“It also rang out on various occasions during Lord Nelson’s campaign and in 1945 for the Allied victory in Europe and then in 1952 at the accession to the throne of our current Queen,” he said.

Worship

It was recast once in 1695, which happens after a bell cracks or loses its tone, and after being melted down the same iron is used to form the new bell.

“It does every Sunday what bells like it have done for countless years, call people to worship” said Dr Elsdon.

Reverend Ron Elsdon

Reverend Ron Elsdon said if the bell “had a tongue it could tell a really good story”

“However it’s the link with the past that counts as well. If this bell had a tongue it could tell a really good story and a really long one as well” he added.

“However it’s the link with the past that counts as well. If this bell had a tongue it could tell a really good story and a really long one as well” he added.

The bell is usually rung automatically by an electric motor, however, on occasion it is rung by hand using an old-fashioned bell rope.

To mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and her visit to Belfast on Wednesday, St Bart’s bell will toll again at 11.30 BST just after the morning Eucharist service.