The Bells
Sanctus Ignatius Deoila Pro Bobis
Francisco Meglal Fecit Annou 1679
Saint Ignatius [...] pray for us
Francisco Meglal made it in the year 1679
The Bells of the First Unitarian Church in New Bedford
The first building of the ancient parish from which this church arose was built at the head of the Acushnet River in 1709. There is no record of a bell or bell tower. The parish, of the Congregational order, covered an extent of 140 square miles, daunting for the clergy, lay leaders, and for any easy means of calling them together. Some parishes were too poor to afford bells and called their people to worship by sending young men with loud drums. But no bell or drum could have carried the needed distance. The replacement sanctuary was constructed in 1744, and no bell is mentioned.
The New Bedford Precinct of the old church was established, and the building was built in 1795, owned as were it predecessors by the combination of persons who built it. They obtained a bell the following year, purchased by the individual subscriptions of 112 contributors, from Captain Silas Jones of Nantucket.
Church bells in New England towns often tolled the hours and called folk to worship and to town meetings. They announced weddings and, in deep, slow tones, marked funerals. They were alarm bells to warn of fires and other tragedies. This bell tolled for all these and more.
When the church built the present building on Union Street, the old bell remained with the Old Meeting House on Purchase Street, which was raised to accommodate a lower floor and rechristened as Liberty Hall. It became the meeting place of many anti-slavery gatherings, and its bell tolled whenever slave catchers or their masters were in New Bedford looking for their lost "property." It continued to be the bell of freedom until Liberty Hall burned down in 1854.
Illustration of the Old Meeting House, which later became Liberty Hall, with its original bell.
Site of Liberty Hall
Bronze Plaque Inscription:
On this site the former meeting house of the First Congregational and Unitarian societies was erected - 1795-97
These buildings were converted into Liberty Hall - 1839
Original Liberty Hall burned and rebuilt - 1854
Merchant National Bank's second bank building erected - 1893
This building erected - 1914
News of the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law was brought from Boston in 1851 by an express messenger who rode all night, and the bell from the old hall was wrung to give warning to fugitive slaves that U.S. Marshals were coming.
The bell was melted in the fire of 1854, and a fragment is inserted into this tablet.
The New Stone Church, 1838
The new stone church on Union Street cradled in its tower an ancient bell, dated 1607, from a Spanish convent, a gift from Moses Grinnell, Esq., of New York City, where the bell was purchased. Grinnell, a New York businessman, a native of New Bedford, brother of Joseph Grinnell of this congregation, continued to be actively involved in New Bedford and concerned with the congregation's progress. With the toll of years, the bell cracked and began to strain its mounting, and had to be retired. It was placed in front of the church, where all can appreciate it.
In 1908, a large new bell was presented to the church by member Emily Morgan (Mrs. Emily Rotch) in memory of her late husband. William Rotch was the second mayor of the City of New Bedford, and later a Representative in the Legislature. He was the wealthiest man in New Bedford, and involved in dozens of enterprises, a clear abolitionist, generous, upright, and charitable.
The bell bears the timeless inscription, Ring out the thousand years of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace.
It continues to ring for worship services, for occasions of rejoicing and sorrow, and always for the blessing and hope of peace.
On March 28, 2026, during a national day of protest, we rang our bells 68 times for those who had been taken from our streets by ICE in the City of New Bedford.
