Old Parish Church Guide Book

The Bells
feature of Peebles, much commented upon by visitors, is the ringing of the
A bells of the Parish Church.
Of the two bells that originally hung in the Old Parish Church of St Andrew of
1195, one was taken to the Cross Kirk in 1562 and the other was sold by the Town
Council in 1564.
When the next parish church was erected in 1784 on the present site, a new bell
was hung. In 1885 when the current church building was established, that bell,
along with the one from the Cross Kirk was recast into one great bell and set in the
tower.
Negotiations begun in 1931 culminated in the provision in 1947 of a set of thirteen
bells at a cost of £2,000. These were gifted by a member of the congregation, in
memory of his wife. The tenor bell carries an inscription to this effect.
The bells, which were cast at the
famous foundry of Messrs. John
Taylor and Co. of Loughborough, are
hung “dead” or stationary and form a
carillon played on a type of keyboard.
The largest tenor bell weighs 1.55
tonnes and is used to strike the hours
and for tolling, the others being
struck for the quarters of the clock.
Church elder William R.B.Whitie
played hymn and psalm tunes before
each service from 1947 until his
death in 1988 and since then, the
tradition has been continued by a
small group which includes members
from other churches in Peebles. The
bells are also played on Beltane
Saturday morning and on request
when a resident of the Royal Burgh
achieves the age of 100 years.
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