The St Martin-in-the-Fields bells can be traced to before the 14th century. They were recast in the 16th century by order of Queen Elizabeth I and again between 1725 and 1770 by members of the Rudhall family of bell founders from Gloucester. Due to be recast leading up to 1870 instead they were tuned and restored at London's Whitechapel Bell Foundry and donated to Western Australia, on the initiative of local bellringer and businessman Laith Reynolds. They are rare in that they are one of the few sets of royal bells, and more so since they are the only set known to have left England. The bells are also known to have rung as the explorer James Cook set sail on the voyage in which he reached Australia.
The tower was designed by the local architects Hames Sharley. The 18 bells have a combined weight of about nine tonnes and, when rung, exert considerable forces on the support structure. To achieve the required rigidity, the six-story bell chamber was made with reinforced concrete cast in situ. The bell chamber was designed by the structural engineering firm Arup. Soundproof louvres and doors are used to muffle the sound or direct the noise towards the city or the river as required. The glass-clad spire is designed using spokes which radiate horizontally from a centrally positioned axle, declining in width as it rises to a point. The solid-steel columns of the spire are rectangular and the concrete bell chamber is enveloped in copper sails and glass. The redeveloped Barrack Square along Barrack Street precinct, which surrounds the tower, includes reflection pools as well as cafes, restaurants, shops and cycling and walking paths. An inlaid path made of ceramic tiles initially surrounded the tower, with each tile consisting ofa list of some of the youngest and oldest cohorts of students from nearly every school in Western Australia from 1999, arranged alphabetically by school name., the tiles were removed as part of the Elizabeth Quay project, but have since been reinstalled in a new artwork to the east of the tower. In 2018, to commemorate the centenary of the World War One armistice on 11 November, a large 6.5 ton bell was cast by VEEM Limited, Canning Vale. Unlike the other bells in the tower, this is swung electronically using a motor, supplied by a Belgian firm. It is known as the "Great ANZAC Bell". Since 2013 the area around Barrack Street Jetty has under gone redeveloped; this included removal of part of the reflecting pool and creation of a boardwalk in front of the Bell Tower. The work is part of a larger foreshore project that also incorporates the Elizabeth Quay development.
Controversy
The A$5.5 million building was said to be built to commemorate the new millennium, but at the time the government and the then Premier of Western Australia, Richard Court, received a fair amount of criticism from locals who opposed it, calling it a wasteful expenditure. However, it remains one of the only "icon" millennium projects that came in on time, on budget and is still open.
