Carillons, musical instruments in the percussion family with at least 23 cast bells and played with a keyboard, are found throughout the British Isles as a result of the First World War. During the German occupation of Belgium, many of the country's carillons were silenced or destroyed. This news circulated among the Allied Powers, who saw it as "the brutal annihilation of a unique democratic music instrument".^[1][2] The destruction was romanticized in poetry and music, particularly in England. Poets – often exaggerating reality – wrote that the Belgian carillons were in mourning and awaited to ring out on the day of the country's liberation. Edward Elgar composed a work for orchestra which includes motifs of bells and a spoken text anticipating the victory of the Belgian people.^[3] He later even composed a work specifically for the carillon.^[4] Following the war, countries in the Anglosphere built their own carillons to memorialise the lives lost and to promote world peace,^[2] including two in England.^[5]

The Carillon Society of Britain and Ireland (CSBI) counts carillons throughout the British Isles.^[6] Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, a publication that historically concerns itself with bell sets outfitted for full circle ringing, also counts carillons in the region.^[7] According to the two sources, there are fifteen carillons: eight in England, one in the Republic of Ireland, one in Northern Ireland, and five in Scotland. There are no carillons in Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Jersey or Wales.^[6]

The heaviest carillon is at the Kirk of St Nicholas in Aberdeen, Scotland, weighing 25,846 kilograms (56,981 lb); the lightest is at the Atkinsons Building in London, weighing 3,194 kilograms (7,041 lb). The carillon of St Colman's Cathedral in Cobh has the most bells – 49. The region has several two- and three-octave carillons. The heaviest two-octave carillon in the world – weighing 22,669 kg (49,976 lb) – is located in Newcastle upon Tyne.^[8] The carillons were primarily constructed in the interwar period by the English bellfounders Gillett & Johnston and John Taylor & Co.^[6] Almost all of the carillons are transposing instruments, all of which transpose such that the lowest note on the keyboard is C.^[6]

According to the World Carillon Federation [nl], the carillons of the British Isles account for two percent of the world's total.^[9]

The World Carillon Federation [nl] defines a carillon as an instrument of at least 23 cast bronze bells hung in fixed suspension, played with a traditional keyboard of batons, and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniously together. It may designate instruments of 15 to 22 bells built before 1940 as "historical carillons".^[10] Its member organizations – including for example the Carillon Society of Britain and Ireland – also define a carillon with those restrictions.^[11] This list contains only those carillons that meet the definition outlined by these organizations.

According to the CSBI, there is one carillon in the Republic of Ireland, which is located at St Colman's Cathedral in Cobh.^[6] In 2019, playing this cathedral's carillon was recognized by the Irish government as key element of the country's living cultural heritage.^[31]

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