The Whittington Chimes are less well known than the Westminster (Cambridge) chimes, despite being much older. The chimes were found on many early English bracket and longcase clocks. The melody was never really given the term "Whittington Chimes" on domestic clocks until the late Victorian period onwards.
There are 6 variations of this chime sequence. Currently the Whittington chime often available on grandfather clock movements that have selectable chimes.
The bells in the tower of St. Mary le Bow all have inscriptions on them; the first letters of each inscription spell out:
- D W H I T T I N G T O N
Famous quotes containing the word chimes:
“It was your severed image that grew sweeter,
That floated, wing-stiff, focused in the sun
Along uncertainty and gales of shame
Blown out before I slept. Now you are one
I dare not think alive: only a name
That chimes occasionally, as a belief
Long since embedded in the static past.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)