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The foundry was established in 1570, and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the country’s oldest manufacturing business. There were a few name and ownership changes, and the business moved to the present Whitechapel Road site ~ formerly the Artichoke coaching inn ~ in the nineteenth century.

We could be forgiven for thinking nothing much had changed since, as the bells are being made in the same way, and there was little evidence of modernisation apart from the large work-shop added in 1980. The business is unable to move from the listed-building Whitechapel premises, so the workers continue in near-Victorian conditions. From this site, famous bells such as Big Ben and the Liberty Bell have been produced and sent all over the world.

Tours are not conducted while the foundry is operating – and seeing the conditions of controlled chaos, and the obvious dangers of working with molten metal, we understood why. But our excellent guide, obviously steeped in the love of the business, brought the whole fascinating process to life.

For the past two and a half centuries, Whitechapel have been acknowledged leaders in the production of musical handbells. Handbell ringing began in England about three hundred years ago. Even in those days, the best bells were made 'at the sign of the three bells' in Whitechapel. Indeed, it can be said that the whole art of handbell ringing - making molten metal into liquid sound - was built on Whitechapel handbells.

Handbells are cast in sand moulds using metal patterns which closely resemble the finished bell and the casting takes place in the main foundry area. Here quality control is strict - not all castings end up as finished handbells. A set of bells is assembled by carefully matching castings for tonal balance, and in the tuning process each bell is turned on a lathe and burnished to give a highly polished finish.

Whitechapel Bell Foundry's business has always been, and still concentrates solely on, the manufacture of bells and their associated fittings. The manufacture of large bells for change ringing peals in church towers, single tolling bells, carillon bells, and their complete range of accessories such as framework, wheels, clappers and their assembly in Church towers accounts for approximately four-fifths of the company output. The other fifth of the business lies in the manufacture of handbells for tune and change ringing, and other small bells of many shapes and sizes.

The war gave the foundry immediate work from the British Government producing aluminium castings of submarine parts for the Admiralty. The Government not only guaranteed the orders, they guaranteed good prices and they also guaranteed quick payment, which is something that the Church of England has never managed to do with the business. In fact the war years were the most profitable years that the Foundry saw during the twentieth century. On into the 1950s, the foundry had plenty of work afoot putting right that which the Nazis had put wrong. They were very, very busy years and in fact in the early 1950s they were quoting delivery times of up to three years for tower bell work, such was the workload.

I have been asked on several occasions, as to why I find bell ringing associated activities of interest, when I have no actual desire to be a ringer myself. ....To be quite frank, I find that something of an odd question. After all, one doesn't have to be a pilot to be interested in aeroplanes, so why would I need to actually ring bells to have a keen interest in them? ....In March 2009, the foundry received a royal visit from Her Majesty the Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. Now, I am fairly certain that her Majesty and HRH aren't actually bellringers themselves, but none the less they appear very interested in the production process.

March 2009 and Our tour guide, Alan Hughes introduces Nigel Taylor to Her Majesty the Queen.
These two photos courtesy of Whitechapel Bell Foundry