Bell tower Ureterp.

Bell tower Ureterp.
In the cemetery near the old Dutch Reformed Church on Selmien in Ureterp, there has been a bell tower with two bells since 1766. To ensure the sound of the bells can be heard clearly from a distance, they must hang high.

Thus, the following sounds were made:
• On Saturday nights from half past 8 to half past 9
• Telling time at 8 o'clock, 12 o'clock, and 6 o'clock (5 o'clock in winter)
• 5 minutes before the sermon began
• Ringing when someone had died (2 x a quarter of an hour in the morning)
• At a funeral
• By means of "clipping ringing" during a fire
• Ringing for announcements.
For 10 consecutive days, the bells were rung at the death of King Willem I at the birth of Queen Wilhelmina for 2 hours.
• At the outbreak of the last war.
The original bells from 1771 and 1932 were stolen in 1943 by the German occupiers. After the war, the local population raised enough money to buy new bells.
Bell towers are also known as "bell towers of the poor" because they did not have the money to build a bell tower.
The inscriptions on the respective large and small bells are:
• I bounce drôf, I bounce bliid – GOD gives everything in YOUR time.
• Even if our people had to be almost perished in the war, for free Frisians we may lead again.
St. Thomas ringing is a tradition that involves ringing bells between December 21 (the church feast day of Thomas Becket) and December 31. By ringing the bells, the evil spirits, which shorten the days, are said to be driven away.

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