_The English Bell-founders_
In early mediaeval times it is probable that bell-founding was largely
the work of the monastic orders. It was regarded rather as a fine
art than a trade, and ecclesiastics seem to have vied in producing
the most ingenious and recondite Latin rhyming verses to adorn their
bells. S. Dunstan, whose skill as a smith is familiar to all, is
known to have been instrumental in hanging, if not in casting bells;
and at Canterbury he gave careful directions for their correct use.
S. Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester 963-984, cast bells for Abingdon
Abbey. In the museum at York there is a mortar of bell-metal cast by
Friar William de Towthorpe, with the date 1308 (Plate 11); but this
belongs to later times, when a class of professional founders had
sprung up, and is therefore exceptional. We read, however, of Sir
William Corvehill, a monk of Wenlock Priory, who died shortly after its
dissolution, in 1546, that he “could make organs, clocks, and chimes,”
and was “a good bell-founder and maker of the frames for bells.” It has
not been possible to trace his work in any existing bells.
[Illustration: _Plate 6._
INNER MOULDS OR CORES FOR CASTING A RING OF EIGHT BELLS.
(See page 14.)]
From time to time, however, we hear of professional bell-founders, as
they may be termed, and even in the thirteenth century foundries appear
to have been started in London, Bristol, Gloucester, and York. The
London “belleyeteres,” as they are called, early attained a position of
importance. Many of them are mentioned in contemporary records of the
fourteenth century; of others we have the existing wills, which enable
us to trace the succession from one generation to another; and again
the names of several occur on bells of this period, contrary to the
usual mediaeval practice. In the days when work for the Church was a
labour of love, less importance was attached to self-advertisement;
though the student of the past may regret this in some measure if it
deprives him of information he wishes to acquire.
The first London founders of note were a family of the name of Wymbish,
residing in Aldgate, which was always the bell-founders’ quarter, as
the still existing name of Billiter (or Belleyetere) Street implies.
There were three Wymbishes--Richard, Michael, and Walter--covering
the period 1290-1310. Richard cast bells for the neighbouring Priory
of the Holy Trinity, and has left his name at Goring, in Oxfordshire,
and on other bells in Essex, Kent, Northants, and Suffolk; Michael
cast five bells still remaining in Bucks; and Walter, one in Sussex.
Other important founders of this century are Peter de Weston, William
Revel, and William Burford.[2] John and William Rufford, who may have
had their foundry at Bedford, were known as “Royal bell-founders,” and
placed upon their bells the heads of the reigning King, Edward III, and
his consort, Philippa. These stamps have a very curious history; and
were successively the property of founders at King’s Lynn, Worcester,
Leicester, and Nottingham. At the latter place they remained in use
from about 1400 down to the end of the eighteenth century; and their
last appearance is in 1806, on a bell at Waltham Abbey, cast by Briant
of Hertford.
Between 1370 and 1385 there was a founder in Kent whose name was
Stephen Norton; he used very richly-ornamented letters, which may be
seen on one of the old bells of Worcester Cathedral, cast by him when
the tower was rebuilt. The other principal foundries of this century
were at King’s Lynn, Gloucester, and York.
The Gloucester foundry was successively in the hands of “Sandre of
Gloucester” (1300-1320) and “Master John of Gloucester” (1340-1350).
The latter’s reputation apparently extended to East Anglia, as in 1347
he was commissioned to cast six new bells for the Cathedral at Ely,
which were conveyed thither from Northampton by way of the Nene and
Ouse. The largest bell, called “IESVS,” weighed nearly two tons, and
the fourth was named “Walsingham,” after the famous Prior Alan who
constructed the central octagon of the cathedral.
[Illustration: _Plate 7._
OUTER MOULDS OR COPES FOR CASTING A RING OF EIGHT BELLS.
(See page 14.)]
Of the York founders, the most famous is Richard Tunnoc, commemorated
in the remarkable “Bell-founder’s window” already described (Plate 13).
He was M.P. for the city in 1327, and died in 1330. The names of other
known founders of this city extend from Johannes de Copgrave, in 1150,
down to the time of the Reformation. A bell at Scawton, in the North
Riding, has been thought to be the work of Copgrave, and, if so, is
by far the earliest existing church bell in England, if not in Europe.
In the fifteenth century (with which we may include the whole period
down to the Reformation) the bell-foundries increase not only in
importance but in numbers; and those already mentioned find rivals
springing up at Reading and Wokingham, Exeter, Bristol, Leicester,
Norwich, Nottingham, Bury St. Edmunds, Salisbury, and Worcester. The
character of the inscriptions now changes, and in most cases (though
not invariably) we find “black-letter smalls,” with initial capitals,
substituted for the old Gothic capitals used throughout. There is
also a great increase in the number and variety of the crosses and
other ornamental devices used by the founders, and many introduce
foundry-shields or trade-marks, with quasi-heraldic or punning devices.
The London foundries, however, still maintain their place at the
head of the craft, and their bells are found all over England from
Northumberland to Cornwall. Two founders of the fifteenth century,
Henry Jordan and John Danyell, whose date is about 1450-1470, cast
between them about two hundred bells still existing. These are adorned
with some beautiful and ingenious devices, such as an elegant cross
surrounded by the words ~ihu merci ladi help~ (Plate 14) and the Royal
Arms surmounted by a crown. Jordan’s foundry-shield bears, among other
devices, a bell and a laver-pot as symbolical of his trade, and a
dolphin with reference to his membership of the Fishmongers’ Company.
Another remarkable device (Plate 14) is that used by William Culverden
(1510-1523), with a rebus on his name (_culver_ = “pigeon”). Thomas
Bullisdon is remarkable as having cast a ring of five bells for the
Priory of S. Bartholomew in Smithfield about 1510, all of which still
exist there.
To tell of the works of Roger Landen of Wokingham, Robert Hendley of
Gloucester, John of Stafford (a Leicester founder), Robert Norton
of Exeter, or the Brasyers of Norwich, would require a volume. I can
only note some interesting features of their work. The Brasyers seem
to have been the most successful workers outside London, and no less
than one hundred and fifty of their bells still exist in Norfolk.
Their trade-mark was a shield with three bells and a crown, which
after the Reformation went to the Leicester foundry, and some of their
inscriptions, in rhyming hexameters, are very beautiful. A Bristol
founder of about 1450 used for his mark a ship, the badge of his native
city. The Bury founders were also gun-makers, and place on their
trade-mark a bell and a cannon, with the crown and crossed arrows of S.
Edmund.
[Illustration: _Plate 8._
MOULDS READY FOR CASTING.
The inner and outer moulds clamped together; the molten metal is poured
in through an aperture at the top. (See page 14.)]
Very few bells of this period are dated; but we find examples at
Worcester, perhaps cast by the monks there, with the dates 1480 and
1482; and at Thirsk (1410), on a bell which is said to have come from
Fountains Abbey. There are also some bells in Lincolnshire, dated 1423
and 1431, by an unknown founder, but remarkable for the extraordinary
beauty of the lettering (Plate 36). Dated mediaeval bells are more
commonly from foreign sources, as at Baschurch, in Shropshire, where is
a Dutch bell by Jan van Venlo, dated 1447, which is said to have come
from Valle Crucis Abbey. At Whalley Abbey, in Lancashire, is a Belgian
bell of 1537, by Peter van den Ghein, and at Duncton, in Sussex, a
French bell dated 1369.
The period of the Reformation, down to about 1600, was, as has been
said, “a real bad time for bell-founders,” and several of the important
foundries, as at Bristol, Gloucester, and elsewhere, appear either to
have been closed for a time or died out altogether. The chief cause of
this was doubtless the dissolution of the monasteries, coupled with the
operations of Edward VI’s commissioners, large numbers of bells being
sold or converted into secular property. These were distributed among
the parish churches, and many instances may be traced of second-hand
bells still existing, as at Abberley, in Worcestershire, where there
is an ancient bell from a Yorkshire monastery. It should also be
remembered that very little church-building was done in the latter half
of the century. On the other hand, the statement which has gained some
currency, that the commissioners only left one bell in each parish
church, is not borne out by facts. Many churches still possess three
or even four mediaeval bells which must have hung untouched in their
towers before and since the reign of Edward VI.
But this lapse in bell-founding was not invariable; the foundries at
Leicester, Nottingham, Bury St. Edmunds, and Reading actually seem to
have received a new lease of life, and 1560-1600 is almost their most
flourishing period. This is especially the case at Leicester, where a
well-known family named Newcombe were at work, succeeded by an equally
celebrated founder named Hugh Watts, whose fine bells were deservedly
famous. At Nottingham we have the dynasty of the Oldfields, lasting
from 1550 to 1710; and at Reading a series of founders of different
names, ending in a succession of Knights down to 1700. The Hatches of
Ulcombe, in Kent, were another prosperous family, as were the Eldridges
of Chertsey.
[Illustration: _Plate 9._
FORMING THE MOULD.
Part of the Bell Founder’s Window in York Minster.
(See page 16.)]
At Bury St. Edmunds, one Stephen Tonne reigned from 1560 to 1580.
His foundry was, however, destined to yield to the sway of that at
Colchester, which begins with Richard Bowler about 1590, and reached
its culmination between 1620 and 1640, under the great Miles Graye, who
has been called “the prince of bell-founders.” Numbers of his bells
remain in Essex and Suffolk, his masterpiece being, by common consent
of ringers, the tenor at Lavenham, in Suffolk. At Colchester, as in
other foundries, the seven years of storm and stress--1642-1649--while
the Civil War between Charles I and the Parliament raged in England,
practically put an end to bell-founding. Siege and other troubles
certainly hastened the end of old Miles Graye, who died in 1649, worn
out by privation and bodily suffering. His grandson Miles kept on the
foundry until 1686.
Turning to the West of England, we find the foundries at Bristol,
Gloucester, Worcester, and Salisbury still in a flourishing condition.
At Bristol George Purdue, a native of Taunton, was followed by Roger
and William Purdue in the seventeenth century; the latter migrated to
Salisbury about 1655, where he carried on the work of John Wallis and
John Danton. Thomas Purdue, the last of the family, died at Closworth,
in Somerset, in 1711, and on his tombstone are the words--
“HERE LIES A BELLFOUNDER, HONEST AND TRUE,
UNTIL THE RESURRECTION, NAMED PURDUE.”
In the West of England their place was filled by the Penningtons
of Exeter, the Evanses of Chepstow, and the Bilbies of Chew-Stoke,
Somerset. The Keenes of Bedford and Woodstock, John Palmer of
Gloucester, and John Martin of Worcester, all did good work in their
day, as did the Cliburys of Wellington, in Shropshire. Another
important Midland firm was that of the Bagleys, of Chacomb, in
Northamptonshire, whose foundry was opened in 1631, and flourished
till the end of the eighteenth century; though in the latter period
its owners became restless, and settled temporarily in London, Witney,
and other places. In the North, York was again the chief bell-founding
centre, and Samuel Smith and the Sellers were famous exponents of the
art; in the East of England we have, besides Miles Graye, first the
Brends of Norwich, then John Darbie of Ipswich, and Thomas Gardiner of
Sudbury.
Several founders between 1560 and 1700 were mere journeymen, who went
about from place to place, doing jobs where they could. Of such was
Michael Darbie, of whom it is said, “one specimen of his casting seems
to have been enough for a neighbourhood.” At Blewbury, in Berkshire, a
local man attempted to recast a bell in 1825. He failed twice, but was
then successful, and placed on his work the appropriate motto, _Nil
desperandum_. Apart from this, it was not at all uncommon for bells to
be cast on the spot, as were Great Tom of Lincoln and the great bell of
Canterbury, or at some convenient intermediate place.
[Illustration: _Plate 10._
RUNNING THE MOLTEN METAL.
Part of the Bell Founder’s Window in York Minster.
(See pages 16, 17.)]
In 1684 a fresh start was given to the Gloucester foundry, then fallen
on bad days, by Abraham Rudhall, perhaps the most successful founder
England has known. He and his descendants cast altogether 4,521 bells
down to 1830, and their fame spread all over the West of England, from
Cornwall to Lancashire, and even over the seas. Most of the big rings
of bells in the West Midlands are their work. The foundry finally
came to an end in 1835, when the business was bought up by Mears of
London.
In London itself bell-founding seems to have come almost to an end
between 1530 and 1570. But about the latter year arose one Robert
Mot, who set on foot what is now the oldest-established business of
any kind in England. The foundry in the Whitechapel Road, now only
a short distance removed from its original home, has always upheld
its reputation throughout the three hundred years and more during
which it has been continuously worked. Several of Mot’s bells still
remain in London, and many others in Kent and Essex (Plate 15). In
the seventeenth century the foundry was in the hands of Anthony and
James Bartlet, who cast many bells for Wren’s churches after the Great
Fire. In the eighteenth, under Phelps, Lester, Pack, and Chapman,
successively, its reputation gradually increased, and in 1783 began a
dynasty of Mearses lasting down to 1870. The name is still preserved
by the firm of Mears and Stainbank, though neither a Mears nor a
Stainbank now owns a share in the business. An illustration of their
bells is given in Plate 16.
Their great rivals of modern times, the Taylors of Loughborough, cannot
emulate them in antiquity, though they can still boast a respectable
pedigree, dating from Thomas Eayre of Kettering, in 1731. After moving
to S. Neots, Leicester, and Oxford, the firm finally settled, about
1840, under John Taylor, at Loughborough, where his grandsons now carry
on the business. Illustrations of their bells are given in Plates
17-21.
[Illustration: _Plate 11._
THE MORTAR OF FRIAR TOWTHORPE.
(See page 21.)]