rs the church bells were hung, with the exception
of one; without these no church was accounted complete; they were
anciently consecrated with great ceremony, named and inscribed in honour
of some saint, and the sound issuing from them was supposed to be of
efficacy in averting the influence of evil spirits. Bells appear to have
been introduced into this country in the latter part of the seventh
century, but comparatively few bells are now remaining in our churches of
an earlier date than the seventeenth century, since the commencement of
which century most of our present church bells have been cast. Towers were
also occasionally used, up to the fourteenth century, as parochial
fortresses, to which in time of sudden and unforeseen danger the
inhabitants of the parish resorted for awhile. The tower of Rugby Church,
Warwickshire, a very singular structure built in the reign of Henry the
Third, appears to have been erected for this purpose; it is of a square
form, very lofty, and plain in construction, and is without a single
buttress to support it; the lower windows are very narrow, and at a
considerable distance from the ground; some of them are, in fact, mere
loop-holes; the belfry windows are _square-headed_, of two lights, simply
trefoiled in the head, and divided by a plain mullion; the only entrance
was through the church; it has also a fire-place, the funnel for the
conveyance of smoke being carried up through the thickness of the wall to
a perforated battlement, and it altogether seems well calculated to resist
a sudden attack. Other church towers of early date appear to have been
erected for a double purpose: that of a campanile, as well as to afford
temporary security. The towers of Newton Arlosh Church, of the Church of
Burgh on the Sands, and of Great Salkeld Church, Cumberland, appear to
have been constructed with a view to afford protection to the inhabitants
of those villages upon any sudden invasion from the borders of Scotland,
and for that purpose were strongly fortified[160-*]. Some church towers,
especially in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, are round and batter,
or gradually decrease in diameter as they rise upwards; most of these are
of the Norman, though some are in the Early English, style; that at Little
Saxham Church, Suffolk, may be adduced as a specimen. Spires in some
instances appear to have served as landmarks, to guide travellers through
woody districts and over barren downs. The spire of