The bells of St. Mary's

Though how many of us today, strolling past St Mary’s Church in Southampton, would guess that the peal of its clanging giants once inspired a global hit song The Bells of St Mary’s –made most famous by Bing Crosby? Or that the American legend had himself once visited ‘Southampton’s Mother Church’?

The story of the south’s most famous bells begins in 1913.

It was that year that Mary Ann Wingrove, a widow, bestowed upon St Mary’s Church the eight original bells in memory of her late husband Robert.

After arriving at Southampton Station on May 3, 1914, they were mounted on trolleys and decorated, ready to be carried through town in a pageant. Parishioners and a lively band duly followed the eight bells on their two mile trip to St Mary’s Church, and that afternoon, a mini carnival atmosphere swept through Southampton city centre.

However, the air of general optimism was overshadowed by the onset of the First World War that August. Ironically, it was the war that brought The Bells of St Mary’s international fame. One night in August 1914, while waiting for their liner, two young men suddenly heard the bells of St Mary’s ringing across the River Itchen. The moment changed their lives.

Douglas Furber and Australian composer A Emmett Adams were instantly inspired by the “lovely peal” carried, “in sight and sound of the sea” and set about writing a song.

This would be known as The Bells of St Mary’s with the immortal lyrics penned by Furber:

The song’s popularity increased rapidly during the war years. Upon its introduction to America in 1917, The New York Maritime College adopted ‘The Bells of St Mary’s’ as its college anthem. So loved was the tune by the college that the first training ship was named the USS St Mary. Officers and cadets of the college even made a pilgrimage to Southampton to visit their cherished bells in 1949, and while there made generous donations to the churches restoration.

The song evolved into a seafaring standard, and was covered by numerous artists over the next few decades, including Sam Cooke, and most famously, by Bing Crosby in 1946. When the legendary American crooner visited the church during the Second World War he became quietly infatuated with its serenity, and on returning to the States, set about recording his own classic, and definitive version of The Bells of St Mary’s.

The Second World War brought devastation to much of St Mary’s Church, and several of the bells were cracked, one losing its resonance.

However, they were lovingly recast and restored after the war’s end as an audible symbol of the city’s solidarity and the spirit of restoration. It took until 1956 to fully restore the church itself.

The mid 1990s saw a tumultuous debate rage around the future of St Mary’s Church.

It seemed likely at one stage that it would be partly or wholly demolished for development, but determined locals fought all the way.

Some invoked Bing Crosby’s own love affair with the Mother Church to see the planned changes thankfully quashed. One Crosby archivist, Timothy Morris said: “Bing loved the church, especially the history attached to it. I think he would’ve been right behind the fight to keep it open.”

Over the last century, several hundred peals have been rung on the Bells of St Mary’s, and the ringers – some of them famous – have come from all over the UK to attempt ever more complex peals. Their ringing hasn’t always been popular. The bells were challenged by a local resident in 1997 as a nuisance, leading an environmental officer to curtail their peal to monthly intervals.

But ring, they still do. And most living in the area are only too glad to hear the merry notes that once brought a little cheer in the midst of two dreadful wars. And some perhaps, still remember the words so synomymous with their resilient church: