One of Ireland's largest bells took 400,000 hammer blows

One of the largest bells ever made in Ireland will be unveiled today to commemorate the epic journey of an Irish missionary over a millennium ago.

West Cork-based sculptor Holger Lonze will be in Bangor, Co Down later to see his Fluctus Angelorum artwork — which took over 400,000 hammer blows to sculpt and tips the scales at three quarters of a tonne — being unveiled to the public.

The piece was commissioned by Ards and North Down Borough Council to commemorate the journey of St Columbanus from Bangor via France and Switzerland to Bobbio in Italy 1,400 years ago.