30 CONTEXT 189 : SEPTEMBER 2026 Visitors watching bellfounders at work (Photo: Tommy Pengilley) DAVID POTTER Saving a bell foundry and its skills When the Whitechapel Bell Foundry closed, Taylor’s of Loughborough was left as the UK’s last remaining bell foundry, and saving crafts skills has depended on Taylor’s survival. The ancient craft of bell founding has been passed down from master to apprentice over many centuries. Before transporting heavy objects overland became possible, bells were often cast close to the church that had commissioned them. The start of the Taylor family’s involvement in bell founding began when Robert was apprenticed to Edward Arnold in St Neots around 1755. By 1784 he had become the master founder there. His sons set up bell foundries in Oxford and Buckland Brewer in Devon, and eventually moved to Loughborough in 1839 when John won a major contract to cast a new heavy peal of bells for the parish church there. The coming of the Grand Union Canal and the Great Central Railway to the town at this time made it an ideal location to establish a permanent bell foundry. Transport access to all parts of the country and an established reputation for the quality of their bells helped Taylor’s business to flourish. With the great increase in the size of the population, the growth of the industrial towns, the building of many new churches and the revival in church attendance, orders flowed in at a great rate, and a new, larger foundry was required. In 1859 the new bell foundry was built in a former cherry orchard about half a mile from the town centre. This was doubled in size in 1872 to become what is thought to have been the world’s largest bell foundry. As the business passed through the generations of the Taylor family, the bells, bell frames and bell fittings were constantly improved, standing far above anything else being produced by other founders. The musicality of Taylor bells became universally acknowledged. Orders flowed in, not only from UK cathedrals and parish churches, but also from many countries worldwide. Today, tens of thousands of Taylor bells ring out from towers across the globe. But in 2009 the Loughborough bell foundry faced bankruptcy and was put up for sale by the administrators. The large site attracted more than a dozen potential buyers, and it soon became clear that the attraction lay in potential demolition and the building of many houses. At this point a small group of committed bell ringers led by Andrew Wilby formed a consortium to secure a future for Taylor’s and to save this important part of our heritage. Having purchased the foundry it soon became obvious that the Grade II* Victorian buildings had suffered from a lack of maintenance over many decades. Roofs leaked badly, and parts of the structure were close to being condemned. The owners soon realised that repairing and restoring the buildings would involve a cost far beyond any profits the business could generate. In 2017 the Whitechapel Bell Foundry closed, leaving Taylor’s as the UK’s last remaining bell foundry. To access significant public funding to carry out a full restoration, the new owners decided to gift the foundry, its land and machinery to a new charitable trust. Working with Historic England,
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