Great George, Bristol’s largest bell, housed in one of the city’s most famous landmarks, the University of Bristol’s Wills Memorial Building, will be switched off after midday on Tuesday 24 January until the beginning of September, to enable essential repair and restoration work to commence on the tower.

Switching off the bell is a necessary health and safety measure as the erection of scaffolding, which began on January 9, is now nearing the half way stage and will be complete internally and externally by the end of March. 

When the nine-month, £750,000 project is complete, the 215-foot, Grade II* listed tower will be an even more impressive sight on the city’s skyline. The stonework will be cleaner and the building illuminated by discreet, energy-efficient floodlights.  Bristol will have a new night-time spectacle.

The sound of the nine and a half tonne bell, the largest bell in Bristol, and the sixth heaviest in Britain is a familiar one across Bristol, telling the time for people during the day as the bell is struck automatically by its clock hammer. Great George is the third largest bell that can be swung by rope and wheel in the country.  When cast in 1924 it was regarded as the finest E-flat bell in the whole of Europe. Today it is still one of the finest and deepest toned bells in the world.