carillon Archives - Raisie Bay

This week I bring you the Bell Tower of the wonderful Bournville Carillon. In fact I am bringing you a post that I fist published in 2015 with a little revision.

a large brick tower with a huge bell tower on the top, set against a pale blue sky

The tower is actually the entrance to a primary school. How cool to enter your school through such an amazing building.

The Carrillon was gifted to Bournville, Birmingham by George Cadbury after visiting Belgium. He was really impressed with the Carillon in Bruges which dates back to 1675.

The copper cupola above the tower houses 48 bells, but this is no ordinary bell tower because the bells are not rung by ropes but by a carillon. The bells are fixed and don’t move, the sound is made by the clippers or tongues of the bells and these are worked by a kebyoard called a clavier.

British Empire Medal

The reason I have decided to revisit and revise this post is because the Carilloneur (isn’t that a fab. word!) Trevor Workman has been awarded the British Empire Medal for services to the British Carillon Society and the community in Bournville. Trevor has played the Carillon for over 50 years now.

Here is a short video of the Carillon being played. It’s an amazing instrument that takes a lot of strength to play, so my hat is off to Trevor! It sounds different from the outside though, the tone is much nicer and you don’t get to hear the clonking of the clavier keys.

Bournville

I am very lucky to live near the Bournville Carillon and on a sunny Saturday afternoon there is nothing nicer than sitting on the village green opposite and listen to it being played.

Also, it’s an incredible place in the run up to Christmas, just across the road from the Carillon, next to the village green, there is always the most beautiful Christmas tree. And the Carillon will play Christmas carols on a Saturday afternoon. There is also a fabulous carol service by candle light.

a beautiful large tree covered with pretty lights for Christmas.

I know it’s a little too soon to be mentioning Christmas. But if you do visit Cadbury World in Birmingham, any time of year, do take a look at the Carillon, it is literally opposite the entrance gates. And if you visit on a Saturday do listen out for it’s beautiful music in the afternoon.

I’ll start close to home and move into the City, see if you can guess where I live.

1. Tudors.

We live very close to a Tudor Church and one of the oldest school buildings in the Country, they date back to the 15th Century. In front of the Church is a Merchants house and between them they are the finest collection of Medieval buildings in my city.

A photo of the 15th Century Merchants House

The Merchants House

2. Cadburys:

Yes, chocolate! We live close to the original Cadbury factory and of course Cadbury World.

Now, everyone knows about Cadbury World and the chocolate factory, but it is in the most beautiful part of my City and most people don’t take the time to notice that. George Cadbury built the factory when his chocolate business took off and he had a village built to accommodate his employees and their families. He wanted them to have nice homes which were not as cramped as the general housing of that time. He called his village Bournville after the Bourn river which runs through it. He also named a chocolate bar Bournville but you probably know that already. As George Cadbury was a Quaker there were no pubs built in the village and there are still none today. (However, if you did fancy a drink they do have a licence to sell alcohol at the nearby Rowheath Pavillion, which is also worth a visit.)

Opposite Cadbury World is a school and the entrance to which has a bell tower. This is no ordinary tower though, it holds a Carillon of 48 bells which are played by a keyboard. The Bournville Carillon ranks as one of the finest and largest instruments in Great Britain. George Cadbury commissioned the Carillon as a gift for his workers in 1906. Because of the way the Carillon is played it is very different to normal bell ringing. You can hear it being played on weekend afternoons. It really is very beautiful. If you visit Cadbury World, do take note of this wonderful building, and if it’s the weekend then stop and listen when it is playing.

A photo of the carillon bell tower of Bournville

3. Canals.

It is said that my city has more canals than Venice! It’s probably true but the canals are more wide spread so don’t worry, you won’t need a gondola.

I have a canal that runs alongside my house, it’s just behind the trees I keep sharing photos of. We can walk along it any time and it really is lovely. We see lots of barges going past. The kids can even walk to school along the canal. If we carried on walking we would end up in the city centre but I can imagine it would take a long time. The train line runs mostly along the canal and takes around 20 minutes to get to the city, so it would take a lot longer walking or by barge.

The canals in the city have been refurbished and you may see one if you visit the International Conference Centre or the Barclaycard Arena. More common attractions of my city. Even the Sea Life Centre is next to a canal.

Here are some buildings sitting alongside a city canal.

4. BullRing

Now the canals have brought us closer to the City Centre I have to talk about our city Icon The BullRing.

The Bullring Centre was built in 1964 and the Rotunda in 1965. I’ve lived in this city as long as the Rotunda!

The Rotunda has had a bit of the facelift but the Bull Ring has undergone major redevelopment opening again in 2003 looking very shiny and new and is now one of the most visited shopping centres outside of London.

5. Grand Central.

We had a pretty big station in our City, it was called New Street Station. If you went up the escalators you could get to a shopping centre called the Pallisades. It was a bit dated and grubby so they decided to give it a bit of a makeover. Ok, they gave it a major makeover, all while the station was still functional. We could watch the changes before our eyes. It’s now a very nice place to visit with some fabulous shops. It’s been open for just over a year now, I bravely went to visit on opening day.