‘…the church bells break the stillness of the silent air. Suddenly, almost from beneath one, there rings forth a peal of bells - the only chime bells in the city - running down the scale in “G, F, E, D, C” order, and sometimes changing into a “C,E,D,F,G,E,C” tune. It is the chime in the Church of the Ascension tower, at the head of John Street, presented to the church by the late Richard Jusen (sic), and immortalizing his memory by saying, to fanciful ears, as they ring “These are Jusen’s bells.” This is their story told every Sunday morning and evening till the chime merges into the solemn toll preceding silence.’
- The Hamilton Herald March 15, 1890
From
Hamilton: Our Lives and Times by Brian Henley:
'In the belfry over the Sunday school building of St Paul's Presbyterian Church hangs a bell which first rang out when Hamilton was still a modest community with a population of less than 1,000 people. The bell was the first installed in a public building in Hamilton....it was used regularly to summon councillors to meetings, and by the volunteer fire brigades for fire alarms...Although currently silent, Hamilton's original town bell still holds a prominent position in the downtown core of the city.
A view of the church ca. 1970, from a position now occupied by an apartment building.
Regrettably, the bells cannot be rung regularly due to the deterioraton of the ringing mechanism, the hazardous state of the ladders, and the loss of the chime stand. This portion of audio was created by ringing each bell by hand, then assembling the recordings into a short sequence. Those with a musical ear will discern that the bells are not very well in tune: an improvement in tuning techniques came along after our bells were cast in 1861. Part of the plans to renovate and augment the bells will be to send them back to Whitechapel for tuning.
Alan Hughes of Whitechapel Bell Foundry examines our tower in 2006
A window in the north transept Hawkins chapel commemorates the service of Benjamin Fowler, bell ringer. He was present on that fateful Saturday evening in 1887 when the church burned.
The orginal order, courtesy of Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
From Hamilton: Our Lives and Times by Brian Henley:
