Whitechapel Bell Foundry

Voice of the East End: The Cast-Bronze History of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry

Think about the most iconic sounds of history: the deep, resonant chime of London’s Big Ben, or the sharp, historic ring of America’s Liberty Bell. Now, imagine a single, humble workshop in London’s East End responsible for creating both of them.

Welcome to the story of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, a place that did not just witness history, but actively cast it in bronze.

Four Centuries of Heavy Metal

Before its doors closed, the Whitechapel Bell Foundry held a Guinness World Record as the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. While its famous home on Whitechapel Road was established in the eighteenth century, the foundry's origins trace all the way back to 1570, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Some historians even argue that its lineage stretches back to a 1420 workshop in Houndsditch known as the Lester & Pack Bell Foundry.

For nearly four and a half centuries, through the Great Fire of 1666, the Blitz of World War II, and the rise and fall of global empires, the foundry kept its furnaces burning. Early in its history, the workshop secured its legendary reputation by casting the historic bells for Westminster Abbey.

Olympic Bell (London 2012)

The Olympic Bell, which Bradley Wiggins rung to signal the opening of the London 2012 Olympics, now hangs rather forlornly outside the London Stadium.

It is a monster of a bell that will, in all likelihood, hang hear for the rest of its days, never to be rung again. This seems to be a waste of a bell, to me, as a bell is designed and tuned to be rung.

Having never seen it up close I was shocked by the sheer size of it.

"Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises" - The Tempest

Brief History

The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was commissioned to make the bell for the London 2012 Olympic Games, in September 2011. They finalised the design, kettering and tuning but found that no longer had the capability to cast such a massive bell. Controversially, they subcontracted the casting to Royal Eijsbouts, in the Netherlands. The Loughborough based Taylor's Bell Foundry, which had also tendered to the cast the bell, took exception at the bell being cast by a non-British company. 

The framework, from which to hang the bell, and the hammer mechanism, which alone weighed a half-ton, were made by various companies. In total there were twenty different companies, from three countries, that brought the bell to completion.