Look up in any French town or village and you’ll likely spot one – a clocher rising above the rooftops, its bells marking the rhythm of daily life just as they have for centuries. These aren’t merely functional structures; they’re architectural statements that tell the story of France, from medieval pilgrimage routes to post-war modernism, from religious devotion to civic pride.
From the fortified bell-towers of the Charente to the UNESCO-listed belfries of the north, from Romanesque abbeys to audacious concrete cathedrals, France’s bell-towers encompass a stunning variety of styles and purposes. They have the power to stir our spirits, so we celebrate the often remarkable places from which they ring out – and explore why these structures continue to captivate us.
Of course, bells of all kinds accompany us throughout our lives, from the cradle to the grave. They tell us when we have visitors, that it’s time to head into school or to ‘knock off’ in the workplace, and when we’re out for a bike ride a bell is still obligatoire to signal our approach to walkers and other cyclists.
Church Bells: Marking Life’s Milestones
Traditional church bells, on the other hand, aren’t going anywhere. Generally huge by comparison, they have the power to mark a host of other events, from church services, weddings and funerals to historic events like the cessation of armed conflicts.
As anyone living in a rural community will know, the sound of church bells can be heard over surprising distances, since they’re mounted in a bell-tower or ‘clocher’, high above trees and other nearby obstacles which might otherwise limit their powers of projection.
The Origins of Bell-Towers
The ancient Greeks and Romans constructed towers for defensive and other purposes, but bell-towers (also known to us as belfries or steeples) don’t seem to have appeared until around the 5th century. These early Italian ‘campaniles’ were mostly free-standing religious structures erected beside churches and whose name derives from the Medieval Latin ‘campãna’ (bells) and also gives us campanology for the skilled art of bell-ringing.
Here in France, of course, clochers (from ‘cloche’ or bell) are almost always incorporated into the main body of a building. One familiar exception is the Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Limoges in the Haute-Vienne, whose architect decided to construct a 62m-high octagonal Gothic bell-tower on a square base retained and reinforced from a previous 11th century Romanesque structure.
Rescued from Ruin: Saint-Michel d’Entraygues
You can see another interesting example on the western outskirts of Angoulême in the Charente, where the 12th century Église Saint-Michel d’Entraygues once welcomed pilgrims bound for Saint-Jacques de Compostelle. By 1840, though, the building had become neglected and was close to collapse, not least since a stone clocher had been weighing heavily on the octagonal roof. Happily, local architect Paul Abadie managed to stabilise things with a rescue plan which included replacing the offending clocher with a much lighter lantern. The present separate bell-tower was erected by architect Hector-François Laboisne in 1898.
Architectural Mysteries and Varied Designs
Octagonal structures were complex and pricey to construct, so they’re something of a rarity compared to the traditional rectangular or cruciform layout of most religious buildings. That said, many designs incorporated clochers in unexpected locations, the reasons for which remain something of a mystery.
For example, the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre d’Angoulême‘s 59m-high clocher rises not from the monumental western façade (whose two small clochers were added during the 19th century) but from one of the transepts at the eastern end of the nave. Since it was originally one of a pair (its counterpart was a casualty of the Wars of Religion), the clergy obviously considered the extra financial burden of constructing two towers justified to maximise the cathedral’s visual impact.
Bell-towers elsewhere are generally more modest in scale, but their styling is surprisingly varied, encompassing everything from Romanesque to Modernist, via Gothic, Baroque, Belle-Époque, Art Déco and more. The village of Millac in the Vienne, for example, has a massive round one, Marans in Charente-Maritime has a partly-glazed ironwork spire (‘flèche‘), while the bells of Exideuil-sur-Vienne in the Charente sit within a slate-hung clocher.
From Medieval to Modern
Older than all of them is the 11th century clocher of Brantôme‘s Benedictine Abbey, on the banks of the River Dronne in the Dordogne. Rivières in the Charente and many others were given defensive fortifications, Ars-en-Ré‘s flèche on the Île de Ré is painted black and white to serve as a day-mark for coastal navigators and Royan‘s post-WWII architectural treasures in Charente-Maritime include the clochers of the Brazilian-inspired Église du Parc and the Église Notre-Dame de Royan, an audacious cathedral-sized tour-de-force in reinforced concrete.
Beyond the Church: Civic Bell-Towers
Bells are also found on some of our best-known non-religious architecture, particularly where a clock is involved. In Charente Maritime, for example, a familiar sight to visitors to La Rochelle is the Grosse Horloge, which has stood beside the Vieux Port since the 12th century, when it was a fortified portal into the then walled town. Not far away in Saint-Jean d’Angély you’ll discover the 15th century Tour de l’Horloge (a vestige of a medieval law court) and a tall, slender, ornamental ‘clocheton’ surmounting the town’s 19th century Hôtel de Ville.
It’s a similar story further inland (throughout France, in fact), where you’ll find similar features proudly adorning other Hôtels de Ville. Poitiers in the Vienne possesses one and things rise higher in Limoges, where a startling 67m high campanile contributes in no small part to the Gare Limoges–Bénédictines having been elected La Plus Belle Gare de France.
A Touch of English Gothic
Angoulême’s Hôtel de Ville (above), on the other hand, appears to draw inspiration from the medieval Gothic château it largely replaced. The belfry, however, is thought to be unique in France, for its design cues were drawn, intriguingly, not from French but English medieval Gothic construction – something to ponder when bells throughout France ring in another New Year filled with fresh possibilities.
UNESCO-Listed Civic Belfries in France
The Belfries of Belgium and France comprise 56 historic buildings designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in recognition of their civic (rather than religious) belfries. They therefore symbolise independence from feudal and religious influences in the former County of Flanders and neighbouring areas, all formerly possessions of the House of Burgundy (present-day Wallonia, Belgium). In addition to their great symbolic importance, they include some real architectural showcases.
In the Nord Département (59): Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières, Beffroi de Bailleul, Beffroi de Bergues, Beffroi de Cambrai, Hôtel de Ville de Comines, Beffroi de Douai, Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque, Saint-Éloi de Dunkerque, Beffroi de Gravelines, Beffroi de Lille, Beffroi de Loos.
In the Pas-de-Calais Département (62): Beffroi d’Aire-sur-la-Lys, Beffroi d’Arras, Beffroi de Béthune, Beffroi de Boulogne-sur-Mer, Hôtel de Ville de Calais, Beffroi d’Hesdin.
In the Somme Département (80): Beffroi d’Abbeville, Beffroi d’Amiens, Beffroi de Doullens, Beffroi de Lucheux, Beffroi de Rue, Beffroi de Saint-Riquier.
The Tradition of Naming Bells
The tradition of naming individual church bells is said to have begun in 969, when Pope John XIII dedicated a bell to Saint John the Baptist, and continues today. The nation’s most celebrated examples are of course the cloches of Notre-Dame de Paris: Marie, Gabriel, Anne-Geneviève, Denis, Marcel, Étienne, Benoît-Joseph, Maurice and Jean-Marie, supported by the giant Emmanuel drone and its two smaller companions. The names all have meaning – Patron Saints of Paris, the first Christian martyr, the Bishop of Paris who began the cathedral’s construction, another Bishop of Paris who died in 2007 and a tribute to Pope Benedict XVI (born Joseph Ratzinger).
After casting, final tuning and installation the bells, while technically ready for use, will first undergo their blessing ceremony and receive their names. Like human baptisms, they are sprinkled with holy water, then anointed with holy oil.
This article was first written for Living Magazine by Roger Moss and has been amended for Savvy France.