St.Nicholas Collegiate Church Galway

This church was originally dedicated to St Nicholas of Myra, the patron saint of sailors and of children. It would, therefore, have been appropriate for Columbus, according to tradition, to have attended service before his voyage to "discover" the New world. It was during a visit to Galway that he met Rico deCulvey, a Galway sailor, who joined Columbus on his voyage of discovery in 1492. And so it was that Galway was one of the first places to learn of the success of the voyage through a peal from the bells of St Nicholas's Church. These bells were probably cast by Hugh Butwall and mentioned on the Seventh bell, now the flat sixth of the re-cast chime.

John Clifton was in charge of the Whitechapel Foundry in London and the Treble bell was the only one from his hands to reach Ireland. The bell was considered to be much out of tune and was eventually to become the clock strike bell. At various dates from 1684, the bells were recast, or new bells provided, as shown by the details of each bell. For almost two hundred years there were six bells in the tower, or seven if the 1638 clock bell is included. Thanks to Mr Henry S. Persse in 1891, two Treble bells were given by him to augment the six bell ring to one of eight bells. These two bells were presented in memory of his wife who died in 1890, and were inscribed accordingly (shown in the section Original Bell Facts).

According to Richard Langrishe in his notes about the bell of St Nicholas's Church, Galway, published in the Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, he speculated that it may have been taken during the wars at the end of the Seventeenth Century, when the village of Cavron was pillaged; or it may have been procured through a sale. Cavron being near the sea, it could easily have made its way to England . The bell may have been carried to Bristol or to some other port in the South of England, where Tobias Covey probably bought it and, finding it would suit tolerably well for splicing into the peal for Galway, took it there instead of taking with him metal to cast a new bell. There was evidence of the bell having been tuned to give a sharper note by some chipping marks around its lip. It is possible therefore, that the bell was placed in the church during Covey's work there in either 1684, or 1726, when he cast bells for the peal. The oldest bell in the tower is the No.7(5), was 39" in diameter and the details of this bell and Tenor can be again found in the section Original Bell Facts.

There was yet another bell, which was presented by Bishop O'Sullivan, who had been Rector of Galway for 18 years. The present clock was also part of the gift, and the bell was to be the clock bell. This bell was cast by M. Byrne of James Street Dublin, in 1898 and it weighed 11 cwts. The bell was recast in 1935 and is now the Seventh bell of the present chime.

The bells were generally in poor condition, and it is recorded that most of them were cracked, with only three being serviceable. So, in 1934, the select Vestry decided to have them all recast into a chime of eight bells with two semitones. The contract was awarded to Gillett and Johnston of Croydon, who fortunately reproduced the original inscription on the new bells. The work was completed in 1935, and the details are as shown in the inscriptions section.

The bells now hang in the pitchpine frame which was provided by Mr Persse in 1891, when he had all the bells rehung as well as presenting the two Trebles to complete a ring of eight bells. There is a chiming apparatus, and the bells are played from a clavier in the ringing room below the bells. The entire installation hangs in the central square tower of this ancient and magnificent collegiate church.