Salisbury bell foundry
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| Salisbury bell foundry | |
|---|---|
| Operated | c. 1220– 1731 |
| Location | Salisbury, Wiltshire, England |
| Industry | Metalworking |
| Products | Bells |
| Owner(s) | Purdue, Wallis families |
The Salisbury Bell Foundry at Salisbury, in Wiltshire, England, was operated from at least 1420 (but possibly as early as 1220) until 1731. The surnames of notable master bell-founders include Purdue and Wallis.
Salisbury cathedral moved from Old Sarum to Salisbury (New Sarum) in 1220, and Lukis has speculated that a bell foundry was established at the same time.[1] Certainly there was a foundry in Salisbury by 1480, as in that year a new bell was cast for the cathedral.[1] That bell was for the belfry, which was demolished by James Wyatt in 1790, the bells having been sold.[2][3] Only William III Purdue's 1661 service bell remains from the Salisbury bell foundry's bells at the cathedral.[4]
According to Lukis, the earliest record of a bell being cast in Salisbury dates from 1443 for St Edmund's Church, Salisbury (now the Salisbury Arts Centre),[2] although Dove's lists one of the bells at St Nicholas, Sandford Orcas as having been cast in 1420.[5]
The earliest recorded bell-founder is one Henry Pynkere in 1465.[2] Pynkere was still the bell-founder in 1495, when he recast the treble and fourth bells for St Edmund's.[6] For 140 years the bell-founders were members of the Wallis family.[6]
The foundry was at Culver Street, which was formerly known as Bell-founder's Street.[1] The foundry closed in 1731[7][8] and nothing remains of it; most of Culver Street is now (2022) a car park.[7][9]
Status
Salisbury was the chief centre of bell-founding in Wiltshire. There was a foundry at Aldbourne throughout the 18th century and into the early 19th century, and individual founders worked at Devizes and Warminster.[10] The Salisbury foundry made bells for many churches in southern Wiltshire and the adjacent parts of Dorset and Hampshire.[10]