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The bell tower at St. Paul's holds two different and independent sets of bells.

The Carillon bells, installed in 1909, can be seen from the street; they are stationary bells that are rung using a keyboard or an electronic control system inside the church.

The Change Ringing bells, installed in 2001, are located behind the louvers seen from the street, below the level of the Carillon bells. These swinging tower bells are rung by a team of ringers using traditional techniques dating back more than 500 years; new ringers are always welcome.

Carillon Bells

The Carillon bells were given in 1909 by Mrs. Louise Jones, in memory of her husband, Martin Tilford Jones. They were manufactured by the Meneely Bell Foundry of Troy, NY, and originally installed in the tower of the previous Sanctuary building at Milam and McGovern Streets. In 1929 they were moved to the tower of the current Sanctuary building on Main Street, and played from a small keyboard adjacent to the Sanctuary organ console.

There are ten bells in the Carillon set, pitched at E♭, F, G, A♭, Bb, C, D♭, D, E♭ and F. They are now played from a keyboard on the 4th floor of the Sanctuary building, close to the bells themselves, or by an automated control system. They can be heard tolling before services, chiming the hour on weekdays, and playing hymn melodies on Sunday mornings.

change ringing bells

Located behind the louvers in St. Paul’s tower that can be seen from the street, our change ringing bells, cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, were installed in November 2001. The octave of eight bells range in size from approximately 397 lbs to 1235 lbs and a new ringing room was constructed in the existing tower. The total weight of the tenor is 11-0-3. (This is the traditional way of expressing bell weights - the weight of the tenor bell or largest bell for each tower is listed inhundredweights.)

While there are thousands of towers in the United Kingdom, there are fewer than 60 towers in North America with change ringing bells and St. Paul's UMC is believed to be the first United Methodist Church in the world to have such bells.

As stated at the North American Guild of Change Ringers website: "Change ringing requires special bells, special 'music', and ordinary people who enjoy climbing towers, working as a team, and performing 'The Exercise.' The human ingredient is critical because change ringing is very different from playing a carillon or chime. It is not a single person sitting at a keyboard. There are no computers or electronic devices. Change ringing depends on real bells, each swung in a complete circle by a single person: six bells - six people, eight bells - eight people, usually standing in a circle. Bells for change ringing are hung in stout frames that allow the bells to swing through 360 degrees. Each bell is attached to a wooden wheel with a handmade rope running around it. The mechanism achieves such exquisite balance that ten-year-olds and octogenarians can control the largest bell easily. The harmonic richness of a swinging bell cannot be matched by the same bell hanging stationary, but each swinging bell requires one ringer's full attention."

Bell Practice is held every Monday evening from 6:30 - 9:00 pm and rotates between St. Thomas Episcopal and St. Paul's UMC. For information about Change Ringing at St. Paul’s and/or the weekly schedule, contact Dawn Uebelhart.