Loughborough Bell Festival 2023

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you might remember that during my 10th birthday month, August 2023, I hosted a number of guest posts from a variety of people who were kind enough to write for me? Well, this month – oh, hang on, it’s the 1st of October today, so I mean last month – I enlisted the help of a young photojournalist to take some photos of an event taking place in Loughborough which I was unable to attend myself, due to a previous appointment. 

On Sunday 10th September, Loughborough held its first-ever bell festival publicised by Charnwood Arts! And what a festival it was!! I’m sure many of you were there to witness the willow bell, made by local artist Nita Rao, who was also responsible for many of the sculptures on the Beacon Hill, and Outwoods trails, whilst it was in the grounds of the parish church (All Saints with Holy Trinity). From here, it made its way through town to Queen’s Park, where there were celebrations all round!

This willow bell was made to represent the Big Paul Bell, which was made by the local bellfoundry, Taylors, for St Paul’s Cathedral in London. While this bell may have been made of willow, the original bell was made of bell metal (a combination of copper and tin) and weighed in at in excess of an impressive 20 imperial tons according to the St Paul’s Cathedral website. It’s apparently the second largest bell to have been cast in the UK – or maybe the biggest in England, depending on what sources you read - and is still the biggest bell cast by our local foundry.

While the journey from the parish church to the park might have only been a short distance, taking only about 30 minutes, Loughborough to St Paul’s in London was a voyage of about 100 miles, and took 11 days! The mode of transport for the two journeys was practically the same though! In both cases, the bell was loaded onto a trailer, and the whole pulled by a steam traction engine!

At the Loughborough Bell Festival – an event that is likely to be repeated in some form a couple more times – the procession from the church to the park, was accompanied by groups like Morris dancers (I spotted Bare Bones and Way of the Wyrd, with loads of members of the public lining the route and even joining in with the procession. Once in the park, there was more entertainment put on, including a concert in the bandstand from the Hathern Band (the subject of many of my previous blogposts, like this one!), and a marquee in which people could have a go at things like handbell ringing!

Here's some photos that give a flavour of the event:

Mr John Taylor (aka Lez!) with the Great Paul Bell!

The steam engine

The trailer

The experts!

Loading the bell

 

Preparing for the blessing

The Reverend Wendy Dalrymple giving the blessing

 

The journey begins!

The procession of people!

The procession arriving in the Market Place

The bandstand in Queen's Park

Morris in the park!

The have-a-go marquee

The end of the day

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Dyer, Lynne (2023). Loughborough Bell Festival 2023. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2023/10/loughborough-bell-festival-2023.html [Accessed 1 October 2023]

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Lynne really was about Loughborough this week!!

Well, are the weeks ever quiet?? Is there ever any let up in this local history lark that sees me chatting with chums, engaging in email exchanges, partying with heritage project volunteers, and going all star-struck over those Star Wars toys?! Seems not!

So, a few landmark events this week to share with you.

The week started with a plea for help in publicising a book signing event taking place in the Harvester on Ashby Road. My friend had written a book about the Sea Around Us (the former name for the Harvester) and had been invited to sell the book at the 35th anniversary of the pub on Bank Holiday Monday, with all proceeds from the sale going to Sam White Legacy fund. Whilst chatting, my friend revealed that he is the only person to have sat on the town hall clock!!! Sounds a bit odd, doesn't it, but it makes more sense when I tell you he used to be a fireman!!   

Then Woodhouse Eaves seemed to take over my thoughts again early this week, partly because I was contacted by someone enquiring about Burleigh Hall. During my research I discovered that the owner of Burleigh Hall had donated towards the children's recovery home at Woodhouse Eaves. A bit more research revealed that actually, there were at one time 8 recovery / convalescent homes in Woodhouse Eaves, so quite which one it was, I'm not sure, but I've a pretty good idea. Here's a picture of one candidate:

Coincidentally, chatting with a chum later in the week, unprompted, he mentioned that he had spent some time at the children's convalescent home in Wooodhouse Eaves when he was a young child, recovery from TB! How absolutely amazing is that?!

Meanwhile, in the local studies section of the public library, I was perusing the Taylor's exhibition and chatting with the volunteers there, when I was introduced to the wife of the former carilloneur. That was extremely interesting, as my uncle plays the carillon in his church in New Jersey. 

I also discovered that the library had a short dissertation which explained the background to the recovery / convalescent homes in Woodhouse Eaves, so I shall be popping back to read that in more detail at a later date. Better not leave it too late as I believe the library will be closed from mid-November to the end of 2018 for the installation of SMART access. 

Friday night I was at a party to celebrate the culmination of the Woodhouse Eaves St Paul's church heritage project which saw the collapsing chancel repaired, and the history of the church and its environs researched and showcased in the church over the last couple of months. Volunteers had researched a huge range of topics - from bells to clocks, from bats to birds, from slate to stained glass, from village life to personal lives. Research was recorded and displayed on pull-up banners, talks were given and walks were led. The Memorial Rooms were full to bursting with volunteers who had taken part, and they were thanked for their contribution to the project with a wonderful buffet, and sincere thanks from the person I can only describe as the "project manager".

Saturday I made a special trip into town to purchase a copy of "Songster", a book written by my friend, and illustrated by her friend. As it's not yet officially published, these were being sold on a market stall. On the way there I bumped into a bowler friend - a different one from the one I bumped into earlier in the week in town - and we chatted for a while, and once I was at the market stall, whilst chatting to another friend, I discovered that during the carillon renovation works, he had been lucky enough to actually go right to the top of the carillon, and touch the cross on the top! 

If any of you have read a book called "Loughborough in 50 buildings" you might have seen mention of Delice, the cafe on Baxter Gate. Well, since the book was published, Delice has closed its doors, but today was the opening day of a new cafe based in this beautiful 1930s building, Baxter's Tea Rooms, so I popped in there for a quick brew - which turned into a long cuppa when I bumped into friends who were also in there, and then another as I was on the way out!!

Delice

Eventually, on Saturday afternoon I made it the New Walk Museum in Leicester to see the Star Wars exhibition! It's a lovely building, and has been fairly recently renovated, with a new stairs put in, and extra cafe tables. Anyway, the Star Wars exhibition was upstairs, and was really quite exciting (even for someone like me who isn't really into the SW thing), mostly because it brought back memories of my misspent youth!! On leaving the museum, we popped into the cathedral to see RIII, had a coffee in the nearby Buddhist Centre and then had a wander around the city. For a special treat, we had dinner at Feast India, a buffet on Melton Road, Leicester.

Sadly, I missed two things this week: firstly, the bells of St Paul's starting their return journey to London, having been at Taylors for refurbishment, and then the refurbishment of the Fearon Fountain. 

Anyway, better go now - I have research for a book to do!

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2018). Lynne really was about Loughborough this week! Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/09/lynne-really-was-about-loughborough.html  [Accessed 2 September 2018]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne 

   




  



            

Whitechapel and Taylors bell foundries

So, are you bored of bells yet?? Sorry, but I don't think I could ever be!!

This past week I've been to Woodhouse Eaves church again, and admired the Taylor's bell in the porch! I was actually there to listen to a friend present some of the research done on the architect of the church, and was reminded of my recent visit to London, by mention of the Whitechapel Bellfoundry.

When I went to London for my son's graduation, we popped into the local medical museum, The Royal London Hospital Museum, as we were aware they had some significant material. On entering the crypt of the former church the first display we came across was a bell. According to the information board: 

"Operation bell of the London Hospital. Date: 1791.This bell, together with the bell of 1757 that hangs in the Hospital entrance, was made at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. Before the introduction of anaesthetics in 1846, it is reputed to have summoned attendants to hold surgical patients still." 

Further into the museum we saw the replica skeleton of Joseph Herrick, otherwise known as the Elephant Man. This was here because the hospital had done much investigation of his condition during his lifetime.

Once we'd been around all the museum, we headed off down the length of Whitechapel Road to get into Central London. 

Along the way we spotted various things of interest, but none of greater interest than the Whitechapel Bell Foundry buildings! Founded in 1570, the Whitechapel Bell Foundry moved to its buildings on Whitechapel Road in 1739, has the honour of being the oldest British manufacturing business. Since 1904 the business has been owned by the Hughes family, but in 2016 they sold the Grade II listed buildings and the foundry finally closed for business in May 2017. 

Some of the most well-known bells that were cast at Whitechapel include the Liberty Bell, cast in 1752, and in 1856 Big Ben, although this had to be re-cast in 1858 because it developed a crack during the testing process. More recently, Whitechapel designed the bell which was used to start the 2012 Olympics, although because it was too big to be cast in their foundry, it was actually cast in The Netherlands. They did, however, cast the bell for the leading barge on the Thames for the Queen's Jubilee Pageant in 2012. From the markings on the photo below, Whitechapel did not just cast bells: this is the base of a lamppost in the vicinity.

When we walked past the foundry buildings - well, ok, we didn't just walk past, we lingered for quite some time - the buildings did not appear to be in use, but nonetheless seemed well-kept. I do wonder what will happen to them. Of course, this does mean that Taylors Bell Foundry, at one time financially vulnerable, and its buildings still in need of a degree of renovation, is now the sole remaining bell foundry in the UK. As we've already read, its bells can be found across the globe, and can its renovation work on bells that may have been cast in different foundries. 

Regarded as a relative newbie, the company has a direct link from the Leicester bell founder, Johannes de Stafford who seems to have been casting bells earlier than 1338, although the Taylor family didn't become involved until 1784, first coming to Loughborough in 1839, moving to the present site in 1859. One of Taylors most notable bells is the Great Paul bell which was cast for St Paul's Cathedral in London. Anyway, long may Taylors continue!

And here I feel I must stop! 

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2018). Whitechapel and Taylors bell foundries. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/08/whitechapel-and-taylors-bell-foundries.html  [Accessed 19 August 2018]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne