Whitechapel Bell Foundry

This press statement caught my eye in December:
Whitechapel Bell Foundry Ltd announces, with regret, that by May 2017 it will cease its activities at the Whitechapel Road site that it has occupied since its move there in 1738.
 The Foundry is listed in the Guiness Book of records as Britain's oldest manufacturing company, having been in continuous business since it was established in 1570. Having never been inside, I was desperate to see if I could get on one of the few remaining tours. Needless to say they were fully booked so I went along to look at the outside of the building

This is the entrance on Whitechapel Road. The building is Grade II listed and may not be altered in any way.

This is the view from round the corner and shows where the bells enter and exit the foundry.

I went inside and spoke to the receptionist and as luck would have it she had just had a cancellation on one of the tours. Definitely my lucky day.

Early one Saturday morning a couple of weeks later, I returned to join a tour. The tours can only take place at the weeekend when the foundry is not in use.Although this site has been in existence since 1738, they have discovered that there has been a bell foundry in this area since 1420, so it was with some sadness that I entered the foundry, knowing this would be the last time.

Some of the most famous bells cast here include the original Liberty Bell (Philadelphia), the Great Bell of Montreal and, of course, Big Ben at the Palace of Westminster. Big Ben is the largest bell cast at this foundry weighing over 13 tons. A cross section of the bell surrounds the entrance door.

Many, many others have been exported around the world including a set of bells to St Petersburg, Russia in 1747, St Michael's, Charleston, South Carolina in 1764. In 1964 the National Cathedral in Washington DC received a ringing peal of ten bells. In fact bells made here can be found in churches around the world. The 9/11 bell was cast on July 26th 2002 to commemorate the first anniversary of the terror attack on New York on the 11th September 2001. The bell was dedicated on 9th September 2002 at Trinity Church Wall Street.

         

The tour began in this tiny courtyard which is used to store the smaller finished bells before they leave the foundry. All old bells are recycled by being melted down and recast which helps to keep the cost down for the buyer. Bells are made from bronze  in exactly the same way as they have been for 600 years. The one that Alan is pointing to above is from Thailand and came in to be melted down but it was so beautiful they decided to keep it.

        

Inside the foundry Alan, the foundry manager explained how bells are made.

This is the loam, it is made up from sand and clay, horse manure and goats hair mixed with water.

 To strickle means using a template with a bevelled edge of a definite contour to sweep the loam into the correct shape.

Here are some of the letters used for the inscription. This is a very skilled job and the inscription is checked before any metal is poured into the mould.

The next stage is the casting. Bell metal (bronze), is an alloy of 23% tin and 77% copper melted to 1170 deg centigrade and poured into the space between the two moulds and left to cool.

When the the bell is cool, the cope is removed. The core must be dug out and the loam cleaned off before tuning the bell can begin.

The final stage is tuning the bell. The bell is placed on here and tiny fragments of the metal are scraped away from the inside until it rings true. The tuning is done by hand but nowadays is checked electronically.

The metal scrapings are not wasted but are used again as the bell metal

Lots of different kinds of bells are made in the foundry. These are cup bells which are not rung but struck.

Hand bells are also made in the foundry.

This is the largest size of hand bell they make.




At the top of the building are these memorial plaques to those workers who have died.  Most workers stay here for the whole of their working life, often alongside other members of their family. Eventhough the building has been sold these plaques will remain here due to the building being Grade II listed.

It is not yet known whether or not the foundry will continue in new premises. It is so sad that in a few months,  bells will no longer be cast in Whitechapel.