In the summer of 1793, just as the Terror was about to begin, the French national assembly issued a decree that communities should, in the spirit of patriotism, donate their bells to be melted into metal for canons.  At this point during the Revolution, France was engaged in both a European and civil war and supplies had become limited.  Because of the integral role bells played in the rhythms of everyday village life, the assembly permitted each parish to keep one bell.  All other bells had to be donated in service to the Republic.  

Series BB/6/65-68 of the French National Archives houses documents pertaining to the collection of bells in France during the months subsequent to the decree.  These reports were sent to the assembly reporting the total amount of metal contained within donated bells so the government could accurately estimate its new supplies.  Ironically, the sound of bells called community members to meetings about the donations.  One document reports: "the mayor, having convened a general assembly at the sound of the bell, in the usual manner, standing at the town hall, in the usual place of such meetings, the mayor having read in a loud and intelligible voice the law concerning bells, as soon as he had read this law, the entire assembly in a unanimous voice [expressed], that he had to, and coming down onto the field, that they would not miss the bells if they were going to...exterminate tyrants, and achieve fanaticism, then they give [the bells] with a good heart in [the spirit of] true republicanism."  (BB/6/65, "Extrais du Registre de deliberation de la Commune de Suieres-sur-oise district de Gonnesse Departemens de Seine et oise," October 1, 1793, Archives nationals, Paris)

The collection of bells had lasting effects in France, and some to this day.  The rich sonic markers of time and space described by Garrioch disappeared from communities.  

Today, if you face the main facade of Notre Dame in Paris, the bells of the left tower were taken down as a result of this 1793 decree.  In 2013, these bells were finally replaced and Paris, for the first time in over 200 years, has regained a prominent signifier from its pre-revolutionary soundscape.