Besides the three smiths specialised in making chalices, St. Patrick had also among his followers three smiths whose chief occupation was to make bells. These bells he left to his churches everywhere and it is recorded that he bestowed fifty bells on the churches of Connaught alone.

The bells were rectangular in shape and were crudely made of sheets of hammered iron. They were small hand-bells with a ring inside the top from which the clapper was hung.

Shrines adorned with gold and silver were made for some of these bells. These bell-shrines are usually made of bronze plates ornamented with gold, silver, enamel and settings of precious stones.

Ecclesiastical bells are of two types: portable and fixed; both kinds can be rung in two ways, by striking the bell on the outside with a hammer or by providing it with a clapper.

The bells shown here are all portable. Apart from the replica of the Bell of St. Patrick the earliest in date was made by the Dutch bell-founder - Jan van den Eynde - Johannies a Fine - in 1954. A large number of his hand-bells exist: one of them in the possession of the London Society of Antiquaries has a Dutch inscription.

Religious

Statuary