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Wembury's Bells
I climbed the bell-tower the other day and was interested to learn about the music and rhthymn behind their amazing sound.
The starting point for the song was not a conventional chord sequence, but the bells themselves.
St Werburgh’s has a ring of six bells. Their recorded frequencies are approximately 985.9, 1110.5, 1243.7, 1317.9, 1484.1 and 1665.0 Hz, corresponding to the notes B, C sharp, D sharp, E, F sharp and G sharp.
Those six notes are particularly interesting because together they form almost the complete B major scale:
B – C♯ – D♯ – E – F♯ – G♯ – [A♯] – B
The only note of the B major scale that isn't represented by one of Wembury's six bells is A sharp.
Rather than simply putting a recording of the bells over an unrelated song, those six pitches were used as the musical DNA of the piece. A repeating motif was constructed from B, C♯, D♯, E, F♯ and G♯, and the same collection of notes could then influence the guitar figures, bass movement and instrumental passages.
The music has a deliberately unusual rhythmic character as well. Sections move between 7/8 and 4/4, allowing the six-note bell idea to be displaced against changing accents rather than simply repeating like a scale. The straighter 4/4 sections then give the chorus — “Sing loud for the bells of Wembury” — a broader, more communal feel.
In the middle of the song the idea is taken a stage further: the six bell pitches themselves become the lead instrument for a church-bell based solo. So the bells are not merely an atmospheric sound effect. Their actual pitches have helped determine the melody and musical character of the song.
There is also a historical connection behind the six-note idea. Wembury had bells by at least 1552. There were three until 1909, when they were recast and increased to five, and a sixth bell was added in 1948 as a memorial to local people killed during the Second World War.
So, in a fairly literal sense, the bells of Wembury supplied the notes from which their own song was built. The actual church bell sounds were recorded live in December 2025.
[Verse 1]
On the rugged coast stands an old stone church,
Where the wind blows in from the sea,
For a thousand years on the Wembury shore,
It has watched o’er you and me.
[Chorus]
Sing loud for the bells of Wembury,
Sing loud as they peal so joyfully,
For many long years they’ve served us well,
The sound of St Werburgh’s bells.
[Verse 2]
High on the hill where the tower stands,
It was known to the sailors at sea,
A welcome sight through the rain and mist,
As they sailed past Wembury.
[Chorus]
Sing loud for the bells of Wembury,
Sing loud as they peal so joyfully,
For many long years they’ve served us well,
The sound of St Werburgh’s bells.
[Verse 3]
Three bells were ringing in days long gone,
And five rang out in nineteen nine,
Then one more came for the ones we lost,
And together the six bells chime.
[Chorus]
Sing loud for the bells of Wembury,
Sing loud as they peal so joyfully,
For many long years they’ve served us well,
The sound of St Werburgh’s bells.
[Verse 4]
They’ve rung for weddings and Christmas morn,
They’ve rung when we’ve said goodbye,
Through changing years and changing lives,
Still their voices fill the sky.
[Chorus]
Sing loud for the bells of Wembury,
Sing loud as they peal so joyfully,
For many long years they’ve served us well,
The sound of St Werburgh’s bells.
[Final Chorus]
Sing loud for the bells of Wembury,
Sing loud as they peal so joyfully,
For many long years they’ve served us well,
The sound of St Werburgh’s bells,
The sound of St Werburgh’s bells.