Swan Bells

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The Swan Bells

The Swan Bells (31°57′32″S, 115°51′29″E) are a set of eighteen bells hanging in a specially built 82.5 m-high copper and glass campanile in Perth, Western Australia. Taking their name from the Swan River, which their tower overlooks, and forming a sixteen-bell peal with two extra chromatic notes, they are one of the largest sets of change ringing bells in the world.

Twelve of the set are historic bells from St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square in London; six others, cast in recent times, round off the set. The St Martin-in-the-Fields bells were donated to the city as part of the 1988 Australian bicentenary celebrations; new bells were cast afresh with a subsequent donation of metals mined in Western Australia. The six newer bells include five which were presented to the University of Western Australia, the City of Perth and to the people of Western Australia from the City of London, the City of Westminster 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 Australia 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 their name as a contribution to the Swan Bells.

The site is now a major tourist attraction for the City; since its opening on December 10, 2000, more than 300,000 people have visited.

1 History of the St Martin-in-the-Fields bells
2 The Belltower
3 Controversy and losses
4 Image gallery
5 References

[edit] 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 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, they were donated to the city of Perth and are thus slightly out of tune. 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 pealed as the explorer James Cook set sail on the voyage that founded Australia.

Bell specifications
Bell Number	Weight (kg)	Note	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 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.

[edit] The Belltower

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 is made with reinforced concrete cast in situ, and the structure 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 30m-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.

[edit] Controversy and losses

The $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 Australia, Richard Court, received a fair amount of criticism from locals who opposed it, calling it a wasteful expenditure. Some gave the spire the derogatory name "Dick's Erection" or "Richard's Folly".

Initially, the tower was opened with free admission; this lasted until about April 2001. After the introduction of charges, attendances were very poor and so the project continued to lose money, at a rate said to exceed $1000 per day with a loss of $1,000,000 possible in the 2001/2002 financial year (The West Australian, June 15 2001, p5.).

In December 2005, it was revealed that the original plan was for the tower to have been 120m high, but this had been scaled back to 85m on cost considerations, particularly given the amount of political pressure put up by the then Labor opposition.

The operating loss in 2004-05 was $450,000.