Clock chime

<h2 id="history">History</h2>
<p>The practice of using bells to mark time dates at least to the time of the early <a href="/facts/Christian_church/mXj3F6ED">Christian church</a>, which used bells to mark the "canonical hours".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> An 8th-century Archbishop of York gave his priests instructions to sound church bells at certain times, and by the 10th century <a href="/facts/Saint_Dunstan/0nzu4Tuh">Saint Dunstan</a> had written an extensive guide to bell-ringing to mark the canonical hours.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>(p <a href="https://archive.org/stream/churchbellsofeng00walt#page/12/mode/2up">13</a>) Henry Beauchamp Walters' <i>Church Bells of England</i> features an entire chapter devoted to the regional variation in what bells were rung, how often, and what events they signaled throughout medieval England.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a>(pp 13, 111, 173)
</p><p>It is from these practices that clock chimes seem to have eventually emerged.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> Clock towers that chimed on the hour appeared in Italy by the 13th century.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a>(p <a href="https://archive.org/stream/churchbellsofeng00walt#page/12/mode/2up">173</a>) They were common enough by the 15th century that, in 1463, Englishman John Baret willed funds to the sexton of St. Mary's Church so that he would "keep the clock, take heed to the chimes, [and] wind up the pegs and the plummets as often as need".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a>(p <a href="https://archive.org/stream/churchbellsofeng00walt#page/12/mode/2up">111</a>)
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<h2 id="quarter-bells">Quarter bells</h2>
<p>Quarter bells are the <a href="/facts/Bell_(instrument)/oU1E1JHg">bells</a> that the <a href="/facts/Clock/MYolzNkw">clock</a> mechanism strikes on each passing quarter of the <a href="/facts/Hour/rBje78F6">hour</a>. Often, as in the case of <a href="/facts/Clock_Tower%2c_Palace_of_Westminster/fB5vSpbe">Big Ben</a>, a different tune is played for each quarter. This enables people to be able to tell the time, without actually having to be within sight of the clock face.
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<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Basilica_of_Our_Lady_of_the_Immaculate_Conception/eojkkREe">Ave Maria chimes</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/St._Michael%2527s_Anglican_Church_(Charleston%2c_South_Carolina)/mCUzRAwl">St. Michaels chimes</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Westminster_quarters/ab3HwAqw">Westminster quarters</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Whittington_chimes/vR6Yhh9q">Whittington chimes</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Mallory, Steven R. (May 2015). "A compilation of clock chimes & sequences" (PDF). NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin. Vol. 415. Columbia, PA: National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors. pp. 267–277. Retrieved 26 December 2016. <a href="http://www.nawcc.org/images/stories/2010/articles/2015/415/415_267_277.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.nawcc.org/images/stories/2010/articles/2015/415/415_267_277.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Mallory, Steven R. (May 2015). "A compilation of clock chimes & sequences" (PDF). NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin. Vol. 415. Columbia, PA: National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors. pp. 267–277. Retrieved 26 December 2016. <a href="http://www.nawcc.org/images/stories/2010/articles/2015/415/415_267_277.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.nawcc.org/images/stories/2010/articles/2015/415/415_267_277.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>Coleman, Satis Narrona (1928). Bells: Their history, legends, making, and uses. Rand, McNally & Company. Retrieved 26 December 2016. <a href="https://archive.org/stream/bellstheirhistor00cole/bellstheirhistor00cole_djvu.txt" target="_blank">https://archive.org/stream/bellstheirhistor00cole/bellstheirhistor00cole_djvu.txt</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>Walters, Henry Beauchamp (1928). Church Bells of England. Oxford University Press. pp. 13, 111, 173. Retrieved 26 December 2016. <a href="https://archive.org/stream/churchbellsofeng00walt#page/12/mode/2up" target="_blank">https://archive.org/stream/churchbellsofeng00walt#page/12/mode/2up</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>Walters, Henry Beauchamp (1928). Church Bells of England. Oxford University Press. pp. 13, 111, 173. Retrieved 26 December 2016. <a href="https://archive.org/stream/churchbellsofeng00walt#page/12/mode/2up" target="_blank">https://archive.org/stream/churchbellsofeng00walt#page/12/mode/2up</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>Ilich, Ivan (4 August 2000) [30 January 1990]. The Loudspeaker on the Tower (PDF) (Report). Retrieved 26 December 2016 – via DavidTinapple.com. <a href="https://www.davidtinapple.com/illich/2000_loudsppu.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.davidtinapple.com/illich/2000_loudsppu.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:7"><p>Walters, Henry Beauchamp (1928). Church Bells of England. Oxford University Press. pp. 13, 111, 173. Retrieved 26 December 2016. <a href="https://archive.org/stream/churchbellsofeng00walt#page/12/mode/2up" target="_blank">https://archive.org/stream/churchbellsofeng00walt#page/12/mode/2up</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:8"><p>Walters, Henry Beauchamp (1928). Church Bells of England. Oxford University Press. pp. 13, 111, 173. Retrieved 26 December 2016. <a href="https://archive.org/stream/churchbellsofeng00walt#page/12/mode/2up" target="_blank">https://archive.org/stream/churchbellsofeng00walt#page/12/mode/2up</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Clock chime open-in-new

Clock chime