The church has two bell towers , but its bells were donated to the military during the Civil War . For years after , the story was told that the bells were never replaced to honor the Confederate dead . In 1999 , a bell , built in 1814 , was reinstalled in the northern tower . St. Johns Church in Preston , Lancashire , England , had had eight bells in its own historic church , but no longer needed them when a replacement set was acquired . One bell had been damaged , but seven were passed to a British bell company . First Scots made plans to bring the seven working bells to Charleston and hang them in their towers . The southern tower , however , was found to be too weakened from the 1886 Charleston earthquake to support the six smaller bells . Still , the largest of the bells from St. Johns was hung in the northern tower . The bell , which weighs 1,470 pounds and is 43 inches in diameter , was funded in large part by congregant Bonnie Workman ; the bell is named " Bonnie " in her honor
1886 Charleston earthquake
1886 Charleston earthquake
First (Scots) Presbyterian Church