All The Bells - Bells Ring Out for London 2012

At 8:12am this morning late sleepers might have been roused from their stupor by the furious pealing of the bells in their local church. That’s because ‘All The Bells’, part of the London 2012 Festival, was taking place. Devised by Turner Prize winner Martin Creed, bells rang out across the entire country for three minutes to mark the opening day of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Big Ben, the hour bell in the Palace of Westminster’s Clock Tower chimed 40 times in total – the first time it has been struck to mark anything other than the hour for 60 years (in 1952 Big Ben chimed 56 times, marking the years of King George VI on the day of his funeral). Over on HMS Belfast near Tower Bridge 300 children stood on deck and rang their bells, and the bells of the surviving churches from that old nursery rhyme, ‘Oranges and Lemons’ also rang out. St Clement Danes, St Sepulchre Without Newgate (the bells of Old Bailey), St Leonards (the bells of Shoreditch) and St Dunstan’s (the bells of Stepney) all joined in earlier today. I imagine that they tapped a few of the bells in the Whitechapel Bell Foundry to mark ‘All The Bells’ too – this company was responsible for the casting of Big Ben as well as the Liberty Bell although, given its status as a symbol of American independence and its general state of disrepair, I doubt that was rung despite its London origins…

Readers who registered to take part in ‘All The Bells’ earlier this morning can continue the fun with a special mobile ringtone created by Martin Creed – ‘Work No. 1372′, which includes the pealing of 28 different bells.