''Time and Tide Bell'' is an art project made up of bells, designed by UK sculptor

Marcus Vergette Marcus Vergette MRSS (born 1961) is a sculptor based in the UK, much of whose recent work involves bells. He is also a double bass player and composer. Early life and education Vergette was born in Carbondale, Illinois. He studied at Portsmou ...

and Australian bell designer Neil McLachlan, installed at coastal locations in the UK. The first one was placed at

Appledore Appledore may refer to: Places England * Appledore, Kent ** Appledore (Kent) railway station * Appledore, Mid Devon, near Tiverton * Appledore, Torridge, North Devon, near Bideford United States * Appledore Island, off the coast of Maine In fic ...

, Devon, in 2009 and the seventh at

Mablethorpe Mablethorpe is a seaside town in the civil parish of Mablethorpe and Sutton, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.OS Explorer map 283:Louth and Mablethorpe: (1:25 000): In 1961 the civil parish had a population of 3,611. On 1 Ap ...

, Lincolnshire in June 2019. at least six further bells are planned, and funding obtained from the

National Lottery Heritage Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

in 2018 will allow for up to sixteen bells in all to be installed. Each bell rings around

high tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

; the bells provide a reminder that

rising sea levels The sea level has been rising from the end of the last ice age, which was around 20,000 years ago. Between 1901 and 2018, the average sea level rose by , with an increase of per year since the 1970s. This was faster than the sea level had e ...

caused by

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

will make the pattern of their ringing change. There is every chance that some of the bells will have to be relocated in the twenty-first century.

Location of the bells

Associated artworks

Sounds from the bells are featured on Vergette's album ''Tintinnabulation'', released in March 2023 by the label

Nonclassical Nonclassical is a British independent record label and night club founded in 2004 by Gabriel Prokofiev, grandson of Sergei Prokofiev. History Nonclassical has released fourteen albums, each following a concept of recording new contemporary cl ...

. The Time and Tide Bell Organisation have commissioned ''COTIDAL'', a film by the Devon-based artist

Tania Kovats Tania Kovats (born 1966) is an English visual artist, best known for her sculpture, installation art and drawing. A key theme of Kovats' work is how art can communicate our relationship with nature and she is an advocate for the importance of d ...

. The intention is for the completed film to track high tide around the UK, and be 24 hours 50 minutes long. The first hour long chapter premiered in Appledore in September 2022.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 53, 50, N, 2, 25, W, display=title, region:GB_type:landmark Public art in the United Kingdom Bells (percussion) Outdoor sculptures in England Outdoor sculptures in Scotland Outdoor sculptures in Wales