The tower was designed by Albert Herbert FRIBA, FSA (1875 - 1964) of Leicester, noted for having designed Lady Herbert's Garden in Coventry and for having overseen major extensions to Northampton Cathedral, between 1948 and 1955. The tower is not surmounted with a spire as the original intention, because of technical difficulties and consequent extra expenses. Rising to a height of 100 feet, the tower has a dead weight of approximately 2000 tons and is supported on a concrete foundation. The tower contains two bells, one ('Maria') weighing two tons and the other ('Bernard') fifteen cwts, cast by Taylors of Loughborough in 1936 and which are swung slowly by means of an electrical mechanism. The monastery's original small bell, cast by Taylor's foundry in 1852, was presented to the Catholic church of St Peter, Leamington Spa, in 2005 for use as an angelus bell.