Above: Black Bell of St Patrick

Bells seem first to have been made of iron, hammered and riveted,   the joints  filled  afterwards,   and  the whole then dipped in  bronze.    They were quadrilateral in form,  andi would seem to have been sounded by being struck on thei outside.    Their height varied from four to fourteen inches, and some of them were six by nine inches, even more, across the   mouth.    These   bells   belong   particularly   to   Ireland, whence they found their way to Scotland, England and the Continent.    Many are scattered among museums and private collections.    Among the specimens in the National Museum is the Bell of St. Patrick, six inches high, formed of two plates of sheet iron, bent to meet, fastened by iron rivets, and then dipped in bronze.    It is believed to have been  buried in St. Patrick’s grave, and thence removed by Colm Cille to Armagh.    The Annals of Ulster mention it in 552 as the Bell of the Testament.    The same Annals, under the year! 1044, refer to the Clogan Edechta, i.e. the Bell of St. Patrick’s Will, the profanation of which resulted in raids for immense cattle spoils and prisoners by the kings of Aileach on Omeath, Mughdhorna and Muirtheimhne.    Patrick is not infrequently referred to in the Ossianic literature as the cleric of the bells. St.  Fursa is said to   have bestowed a precious bell on Cnobheresburgh,  " probably the work of his own hands," and another, which was long preserved in the monastery of Lismore, on some of his Irish brethren.
The bronze bells, which appear later than the iron ones, were naturally of more graceful outline. The Bells of Clogher and of Armagh are examples. The former, near ten inches high, is supposed to have been presented by St. Patrick to the Bishop of Clogher. The Bell of Armagh, nearly twelve inches high, and about eight by eleven inches at the mouth, is, for the most part, of cast bronze. An inscription on it asks for a prayer for Cumascach, whose death is recorded at 908. The Bell of Loch Lene Castle, altogether the most beautiful example in the national collection, is over thirteen inches high, roughly eight inches by eight at the mouth, and decorated with crosses and interlacements.    Two bells of a similar kind have been found at Bangor and Cashel respectively. The O Mellans of Donaghmore, Tyrone, were the hereditary custodians of the Bell of Clogher; the 0 Beo-lains of Galway of the Black Bell of St. Patrick. The greatest bell-founder of the eighth century was a monk of St. Gall. Towards the eleventh century it became customary to have historic bells enshrined.