Whitechaple Bell Foundry .

Whitechapel Bell Foundry .

There is part of a segment about efforts to preserve the Whitechaple Bell foundry in the last part of this segment from a radio program from the U.K. that plays on C.B.C. Radio during the overnight that I happened to hear .
I looked up the links and thought I would share them here.
The first part of the segment is about Middleport Pottery and the Bell Foundry part starts after the 11 minute point.
Heritage and more, The Urbanist 438 - Radio | Monocle
More links
Information — Re-form
WC information — Whitechapel Bell Foundry — Re-form
I see there is a Page on Graces Guide with more information about the Whitechapel Bell Foundry
Whitechapel Bell Foundry - Graces Guide
These people have taken over that production of at least some of the line.
About - Westley Bells
Videos from youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qZiOilBjQA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H27BbUfVNyk
I also noticed this audio clip about Gas Holder Park in London
https://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-urbanist/tall-stories-197/
I think Asquith posted about some of these gas holders on this forum some time ago but i don’t remember that this was one of them .

Regards,
Jim

I visited Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1974. My younger brother was studying for a semester in England at the time, and he "discovered" Whitechapel Bell Foundry. Although my younger brother was a liberal arts major, he knew I'd be interested in seeing the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. Knowing I'd be coming to England for a visit, my younger brother inquired at Whitechapel Bell Foundry about a vist/tour, pinning the reason on me- since I am a mechanical engineer. The management of Whitechapel Bell Foundry kindly agreed, and we did get to see the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in operation.

I was initially surprised to find that Whitechapel Bell Foundry was not a typical foundry type building as I'd expected. Of course, we discussed the fact that Whitechapel had cast the original Liberty Bell. The gentlemen at Whitechapel laughingly said every Yank with whom they'd had any contact had reminded them of the cracking of the Liberty Bell. They blamed the cracking on how the bell was hung and how it was rung once in place in Philadelphia. They went on to say that Pass and Stow, the founders in Philadelphia who re-cast the Liberty Bell after it initially cracked, were not bell founders but-at best- a local stove foundry.

The tour was quite interesting, and the foundry included a vertical boring mill for finishing the rough cast bells (probably more for tuning than finishing). I asked whether the foundry had ever been steam powered. The gentleman taking us around the place told us that there had been a beam steam engine in use for some years to drive the machinery in the foundry. When electric power from the mains came into use, the engine was scrapped in place. The bronze parts were melted down right there in the Whitechapel foundry and used to cast a bell. I forget where that bell was hung, but a poem was written about the steam engine, and its subsequent reincarnation into the bell. This poem was cast on the band on the bell itself.

I recall asking the question about the custom of putting silver dollars into a melt of bell metal, done in the USA. Some people claimed this was good luck and that it gave the bell a clearer and nicer tone. The gentlemen at Whitechapel Bell Foundry told me this was a lot of "rubbish" and that if silver were added to a melt of bell metal, it would give the bell a tone "like hitting a dust bin" (garbage can).

The foundry was small, and I think they worked slowly, casting one large bell at a time, or perhaps a very few smaller bells at a time. By 1974, they had ceased using a coke fired furnace to melt the metal and were using a more modern gas fired furnace.

It is sad that a business founded (pardon the pun) in 1540 or thereabouts could not survive. But, with the progress in our world, the need for actual bells has diminished. In days when the population was a lot smaller, a church bell or clock tower bell served the surrounding community. Now, in many churches, if "bells" are rung for a service or some other reason, the "bells" are often amplified recordings. With very nearly everyone having a watch (even now being obsoleted by phones), people are not likely to pay much attention to the bells of a tower clock. Aside from churches and tower clocks, some mills and factories in bygone years also had their bells. Bells were fairly commonplace and served a real purpose years ago, but that need has almost ceased to exist.

I remember attending an interfaith community service in a Catholic Church following 9-11. The priest said he'd ring the church bells as the service concluded. I expected the priest to walk to the back of the church and climb some stairs to pull on a bell-rope. Instead, the priest took out a small "remote" control from his clothing and proceeded to push a button on it. The tolling of the bells began. My guess is the controller activated some recorded bells which were broadcast out of the church steeple via loudspeakers. It's a trend we cannot deny. In a similar vein, at funerals where a military burial is to occur, buglers are in short supply. There is a module which looks sort of like a "mute" for a trumpet or bugle which actually contains a "sound chip" and amplifier. This is stuck into the bell of a bugle or trumpet so it appears that the "bugler" is actually blowing Taps. Signs of the progress of technology, and little wonder that the original Whitechapel Bell Foundry has closed down.

A sad loss for clock restoration. They could supply sets of tuned bells for musical and chiming clocks.
There were really funny letters in a case in the lobby where a group in Philly asked them to honor the warranty for the Liberty Bell and White Chapel said sure, as long as it is returned in its original packaging....

Joe Michaels and MrStrech thanks for contributing .
Regards,
Jim