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.

'The Shared' and 'Cornerstone' by Austin Emery

'The Shared' (2014).

'The Shared' was a collaboration between the sculptor Austin Emery, Leathermarket JMB (Southwark's largest resident-managed housing organisation), and the local community.

In October 2012 free, open stone sculpting workshops took place on Tyers Estate, with over 100 members of the public, both adult and child alike, creating their own pieces of sculpture.

To make the sculpture whole, much like a community, Austin Emery joined the pieces together to form 'The Shared' totem-like sculpture, which now stands on the Tyers Estate.

Austin then added his own embellishments and crafted animal habitats within the piece.