The Spirit of Haisbro’ - Our Time and Tide Bell
Our Time and Tide Bell is finally in place – and it looks magnificent!
The installation is one of a series of 13 Time and Tide Bells created around the British coast as part of a national arts project. The idea was conceived by sculptor and musician Marcus Vergette in contemplation of our relationship to the sea as it rises and falls around our coastline twice every day. At the heart of this connection is the existential threat of rising sea levels in the face of climate change, and the effect it will have on Britain’s coastal communities.
In its early stages the project was funded by the Arts Council. In 2018 additional funding was received from the National Lottery Community Fund. But this public funding has been substantially boosted by private donations raised by the sculptor himself.
The Spirit of Haisbro’
Happisburgh is no stranger to transience from the threat of the sea. It constantly battles coastal erosion (the coastline recedes approximately two to five metres per year) and the changes wreaked by the forces of nature. This is perhaps one of the reasons the artist has gifted the village with one of these sought-after bells. Amongst the other unique qualities listed by the artist are the beauty of this stretch of coastline, and its long history of human habitation. In 2013, the oldest human footprints outside Africa were discovered here after a storm.
The Happisburgh bell, named The Spirit of Haisbro’ by its community, has been placed on the beach, close to its iconic red and white striped lighthouse. Although gifted by the artist, the structure that holds the bell has been designed and funded by the local community.
Its unique framework is modelled on a sled, made from a single oak tree that was planted in 1790. Its narrative is that when the bell finds itself marooned at sea, it will be dragged inshore on the sled at its base to shelter from the threat.
Design and Development
Marcus began researching the design of the bell in 2008, in collaboration with Dr Neil Mclachlan at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Computer modelling was used to create a shape that would be rich and harmonious, sounding different notes with different strikes of the clapper, so that it formed a melody.
The bells are cast from bronze, made by Brass Founders of Sheffield. Over the years, exposure to the sea and other contaminants will turn them green or tinge them with other colours, but they will not degrade.
The Concept
The rise of the water at high tide moves the clapper at the top to strike the bell. As the tide comes in and the level of the sea rises, the bell strikes more frequently. As it becomes submerged in the rising water, the pitch will vary, and the movement of the water against the bell creates a gentle, varying musical pattern.
Each bell is permitted to tell its own local story and bears a locally chosen inscription on the clapper, often a piece of poetry. The Happisburgh bell marks “a point of reflection about the power of nature and mankind’s accommodation of change”.
Locations
The first bell was installed at Appledore in Devon. Since then 12 other bells have been installed at Harwich (Essex), London (Trinity Buoy Wharf), Ventor (Isle of Wight), Brixham (Devon), Par (Cornwall), Aberdyfi (Gwynedd), Cemaes Bay (Anglesea), Redcar (Yorkshire), Morecambe (Lancashire), Bosta Beach (Isle of Lewis) and Mablethorpe (Lincolnshire), Happisburgh (Norfolk).
