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LyndenleaBristol Branch
University of Bristol (Wills Memorial Building)
Name or Dedication: Wills Memorial Building
Location: University of Bristol, Gloucestershire
Grid Reference: ST580731
Great George – one of the heaviest and deepest-toned bells in the British Isles. Weighing in at over 9½ tons and measuring 8 ft 4 in across its mouth, no list of bells in Bristol would be complete without it. However, I will admit to being a little self-indulgent including it here as it's hung for swing-chiming, not full-circle ringing. I'm also rather fond of the photo I took of the tower...
The bell is housed inside the 215-foot tall Wills Memorial Building which was opened on 9th June 1925. It hangs just below the battlement level in the base of the octagonal stage of the tower, on a balanced cast-iron headstock in a concrete frame. Prior to tuning in 1924 it weighed 232-2-21, more than 11½ tons. Its original rivetted steel bridge-pattern headstock (replaced in 1992) weighed 49-2-21 by itself, and the clapper assembly (overhauled in 1985) weighed 21-0-16. The hours are struck on the bell by a hammer weighing 3-3-14, which in 1992 was turned 180 degrees to present an unworn face to the bell. At the same time the hammer's check spring was reset and a sophisticated control mechanism to operate the striking motor was installed to Taylors' specifications.
Access to the first floor of the tower is by a lift, the tiny Ringing Room being tucked into the north-east turret at this level. From here the bell can in theory be swing-chimed – the inch-thick bellrope takes an unusual route, travelling horizontally from the top of the 12-foot wheel into the upper stage of the turret before dropping into the Ringing Room. However, it is now normally swung from inside the belfry with the rope detached, the ringers (complete with hearing protection) turning the wheel by hand. This takes place on a few regular dates each year, plus other occasions when appropriate.
Bells hung for full-circle ringing
| Bell | Weight | Diameter | Note | Founder | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great George | 191-1-17 | 100 in | Eb | John Taylor & Co. | 1924 |
Source: The Ringing World 4220 (page 251) and 4224 (page 368). Weight of bell before tuning from Christopher J. Pickford.
Where the exact weight of a bell is known, it is given in the traditional way using the British imperial units of Hundredweight, Quarters and Pounds (cwt-qtr-lb) in which there are 28 pounds in a quarter, four quarters in a hundredweight, and 20 hundredweight in a ton (one hundredweight is equal to approximately 50.8 kilograms). However, if only an approximate or calculated weight is known, it is given to the nearest quarter of a hundredweight.
A bell's diameter is measured across its mouth (open end) at the widest point and is given in inches (to the nearest quarter of an inch), one inch being equal to approximately 2.54 centimetres.