The Bells of San Valero

Cockney is both a linguistic and geographical term generally referring to people living in East London. A standard definition is that in order to be a Cockney, one must have been born within earshot of the Bow Bells of St Mary-le-Bow church. The church was actually destroyed in 1666 in the Great Fire but was rebuilt again. The bells were ruined yet another time in The Blitz of 1941 only to be replaced again in 1961. The Ruzafa neighborhood of Valencia could also be defined as those within earshot of the bells of Saint Valero Church in the Plaza Landete.

The bells are the one bit of noise that enters my apartment that thoroughly charms me every time I hear them. Every morning you can hear the smaller bells ringing to signal the daily mass at this 15th century iglesia. The larger bells are rung at irregular times during the course of any given day. All of the bells are rung together for weddings and other special occasions and this can be heard very well throughout the entire neighborhood of Ruzafa, or the center of the universe as we call our home. The full pealing of the bells can just about knock a man off his bike. To me the ringing of the bells is very comforting; this sound is as much a part of where I live as the physical structure of the church itself.