Issue 39 Sept 23 - Journal - Page 14
Restoring Britain’s
Last Bell Foundry
John Taylor & Co of Loughborough has been casting bells in the town since it relocated there in 1839
when, on winning a contract to cast a new heavy peal of eight bells for the church, it was a requirement
that the bells should be cast within the parish. Prior to this the Taylor family had been bell founding in
St Neots, Oxford, and Buckland Brewer.
1859 and a new, much bigger purpose-built bell foundry
was constructed, and then doubled in size in 1872 as the
business continued to grow. Expansion was so rapid that
Taylor’s claimed to be “The Largest Bell Foundry in the
World”.
With the coming of the Grand Union Canal and
the Great Central Railway to the town at this time,
Loughborough proved an ideal location for a permanent
bell foundry. In the years that followed, the revival of
religion in the Victorian era allowed the business to flourish, and it soon outgrew its first premises in the town
centre in Pack Horse Lane. Land in a cherry orchard on
the outskirts of the town at that time was purchased in
Over the years the tonal quality of the bells produced at
Loughborough has won the highest of praise, and it is
no coincidence that most of our cathedrals now house
Above, Flag Tower
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Conservation & Heritage Journal
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