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Church Bell Sounds
Church bells ring to call people to worship, to tell the hours, to mark the Angelus at six, noon and six, and to celebrate weddings or toll for the dead. Below are three real recordings you can play right here: a parish church bell, Big Ben's hour bell and a deep monastery bourdon.
A bright, full bronze bell, the sound of a village church on a Sunday morning.
The great hour bell of the Elizabeth Tower in London, sounding its E.
A slow, low bell whose hum carries for about eleven seconds after each strike.
All three are recordings of real bells, not synthesised tones, and all three are free in the BELFRY app.
Why church bells ring
| Occasion | What you hear |
|---|---|
| Calling to worship | Bells rung before a service, often for several minutes, so the parish knows it is time to come. |
| The hours | A tower clock strikes once for each hour, sometimes with quarter chimes such as the Westminster Chime. |
| The Angelus | Three groups of three strokes, then nine, at 6 am, noon and 6 pm. See the Angelus bell. |
| The canonical hours | In monasteries, a bell for each of the eight daily prayer times, from Matins to Compline. See the canonical hours. |
| Weddings and feasts | Bells rung joyfully and fast, sometimes for hours on great occasions. |
| Funerals | A single bell tolled slowly, one stroke at a time: the knell. |
Tolling, chiming, swinging and change ringing
A church bell can be sounded in very different ways, and each one has its own character:
- Tolling is one bell struck slowly and steadily, the sound of a funeral or a solemn hour.
- Chiming moves the bell, or a hammer, just enough to strike, so a tune or the hour can be played at an even pace. Clock chimes work this way.
- Swinging lets the whole bell swing back and forth, the common style across most of Europe, which gives the rolling, overlapping sound of a festival.
- Change ringing is the English art of swinging each bell through a full circle, so a team of ringers can control exactly when it sounds and ring the bells in ever-changing orders.
- A carillon is a set of at least 23 tuned bells played from a keyboard, so it can play real music. You can play one yourself in the Carillon.
How big is a church bell?
Anything from a few kilograms, for a small sanctus or chapel bell, to many tonnes. A typical village church bell weighs a few hundred kilograms; Big Ben, the great hour bell at Westminster, weighs about 13.7 tonnes. The bigger the bell, the lower the note and the longer it hums after each strike.
Church bells on your phone
BELFRY puts these bells on your iPhone or Android. Ring them whenever you want a moment of calm, or let them strike the hours the way a church clock does: three tolls at three o'clock, twelve at noon, with optional half hours and quarters. The bells ring in the background with the phone locked, mix with your music, and rest overnight during quiet hours you set yourself.
- Free: the church bell, Big Ben and the monastery bell, the hourly strike, the eight canonical hours, a wake alarm and quiet hours.
- Lifetime Unlock ($9.99 once): seventeen more voices, including cathedral, chapel and sanctus bells, a harbour bell, a grandfather clock, singing bowl and gong, plus the Angelus and the meditation sessions.
Questions people ask
Why do church bells ring?
To call people to worship, to tell the hours, to mark the Angelus at 6 am, noon and 6 pm, to celebrate weddings and great feasts, and to toll slowly for funerals.
Why do church bells ring at noon?
Usually for the Angelus, a short prayer marked by three groups of three strokes and then nine, rung at 6 am, noon and 6 pm in Catholic tradition. Many town clocks also simply strike twelve.
What is the difference between tolling and ringing a bell?
Tolling is one bell struck slowly, one stroke at a time, as at a funeral. Ringing usually means swinging one or more bells so they sound freely and quickly, as for a service or a wedding.
Are these real church bell recordings?
Yes. The church bell, Big Ben and monastery bell on this page are recordings of real bells, and every voice in the BELFRY app is recorded from a real bell.
Is there an app that plays church bells every hour?
Yes. BELFRY strikes the hours on real recorded church bells on iPhone and Android, in the background with the phone locked. It is free to use with no ads.
Real church bells, on the hour
BELFRY is a bell tower in your pocket: twenty real bell voices, the hours struck the way a church clock strikes them, prayer and meditation bells, ringing even with your phone locked. Free to download, no ads, ever.
