THE sound of servant bells ringing out at the historic Wesbonbirt House country home was once commonplace but the instruments had been forgotten about for many years until now.

Westonbirt House was built by Victorian millionaire, Robert Holford between by 1863 and 1870 and had remained in his family for decades until 1929 when it became home to Westonbirt School.

Last week behind a panel in one of the school’s lower corridors its maintenance team uncovered sixty three perfectly preserved bells that were once used by the Holdfords to get the attention of their servants.

One of the assistant head teachers of the school, Joy Bell said: “We are delighted - it is fantastic - it is really fascinating. In a historic building like this, there could be all sorts of things we haven’t got around to discovering, we will certainly be letting the wider world know about our further discoveries.

“You cannot fail to be impressed by the grandeur of the building. The fire place is so big, the carving are so fantastic – it is brilliant.”

Joy added that this discovery has inspired the school to research its history.

She said: “There couldn’t have been 63 servants? or could there ? What it has done is make us think about the history of the building.”

Each of the bells have labels such as ‘billiard room’ and ‘entrance hall’ and are operated by levers that are located all over the house.

The maintenance team decided to have a look behind the panel after hearing rumours from long-serving members of the school’s staff that the bells may be hidden there.

The school believe that bells were on show until they were covered up somewhere between 1962 and 1975.

Mr Holford commissioned architect Louis Vulliamy to design the house in the late 19th Century and developed the Pleasure Grounds around his home and the nearby Westonbirt Arboretum to accommodate an impressive collection of trees.

Mr Holford was passionate about architecture, and had previously employed Vulliamy to design and build Dorchester House, a fine Italianate palazzo in Park Lane, London, with the aim of setting a new standard of architecture in the city.