John Taylor, the Loughborough
bellfounder, recast the bells and supplied a new metal frame in 1950.
She is a deeply invested layperson in the oddly arcane world of carillons--in which her father held an important place as "a great
bellfounder, some say the greatest of the twentieth century." Johnston has fashioned this unique work out of (auto)biography, history, engineering, and art.
A prehistoric copper mine, one of only four found in France, has been excavated and Francois Granier, a
bellfounder from Herepian, has documents tracing, his direct descent from Guillaume in 1570, all in the same trade.
Great Paul is the biggest bell which the veteran firm of Taylor's has made -- if `made' is an adequate word for the creation of so awe-inspiring an object -- but it has produced many other monsters of the
bellfounder's art, including Great Peter in York Minster which weighs over 10 tons, Great George in the Anglican cathedral in Liverpool and, more recently, the mammoth Malta Siege bell of 1992, which stands 7ft tall, is 8ft 8in wide at the base and weighs getting on for 11 tons.
St Stephen's Church, Bodfari, reputedly dates back to the seventh century and Deifar, whose well is nearby Records show the land was given to Chester's St Werburgh's Abbey in 1093 The tower was built in the 15th century, with bells cast by Wigan's
bellfounder Thomas Orrell in 1636 An extensive restoration was undertaken in the 1860s, with a rebuilt nave and chancel Picture: RICHARD WILLIAMS To order your copy of this picture, please fill in the form on page 4
The only surviving set made by Worcester
bellfounder Abraham Rudhall, between 1726 and 1727, they were brought up the River Severn to Shrewsbury and then hauled overland to Wrexham.
The
Bellfounders tackled the coming of the anti-Christ ahead of the Last Judgment.
The carillon of eight bells were cast in 1937 at John Taylor
Bellfounders Ltd, of Loughbrough, and coated with carbon to preserve them.
Representatives from both organisations joined Rev Pyke at the casting of the first bell - the pounds 20,000 Chord bell - at John Taylor
Bellfounders in Loughborough.
The aptly named Chord bell, weighing in at a hefty 12cwt and 3ft 5inches in diameter, will be the first to be cast by Loughborough-based John Taylor
Bellfounders, which has been making bells since the14th century and is now the largest bell foundry in the world.
The Rockley, two bedroom house as built at
Bellfounders Corner in Lichfield, won the vote of the complete judging team.
Westbury has looked to the past for inspiration with its two Lichfield schemes, Fitzwilliam Court and
Bellfounders corner, each just south of the city centre and only half a mile apart.