Bell tower in Geertruidenberg, in North Brabant, The Netherlands.

The belfry as a free-standing scaffolding is a typical Frisian building for sounding the dead. Bell towers were probably built in areas that were too poor or the community too small to build a church. Or a church was built without a tower. And sometimes the church/church tower had fallen into ruin and a separate bell tower was built. But also for other reasons and in other places, free-standing bell chairs have sometimes been chosen, even without a roof, such as at the war memorial on the Waalsdorpervlakte. There, as is often the case, the free-standing bell tower was built on a hill. In Geertruidenberg, it was built by VMBO students, and every year on May 4, with Remembrance Day, the sound is heard.

A bell tower is a scaffolding of thick wooden or iron beams, in which one or more bells are suspended. A bell tower can be installed at the top of the church or bell tower, but it can also stand alone. A carillon also hangs in a belfry. In masonry church towers, the need for a bell tower soon arose when an assembly of hatch bells was built. The ringing of these bells caused cracks in the tower body. Therefore, various oak constructions were developed that properly guided the vibrations downwards and could still bear the weight of the movable bells, which sometimes weigh more than 500 kilos each.