We walked through the ancient city gate of York as the bells chimed noon. Although twelve was far later than I’d anticipated arriving, it was still a huge thrill to be strolling down a narrow lane of shops built in who knows when to the sound of these thunderous bongs. The idea of real bells in European churches has always fascinated me. They seem so romantic to those of us who come from the West Coast of the USA where the only church bells are pathetic, electronic clarions.
After twelve tolls the bells were still going. Curious, I left my family in an antique shop and went out to the end of the street and looked up at the Minster itself. It was really loud there in front of the church. I felt the concussion of each impact reverberate through my body, and I thought with a shudder of a favorite mystery book, The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers in which bells are almost characters. To understand the shudder read the book!