A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



1745, were probably made by this Henry 

 Bagley, while altogether more than 120 bells 

 now in use in the county were turned out by 

 the Bagleys from the Chalcombe foundry. 



At Kettering in the early part of the 

 eighteenth century there was a family of Eayre, 

 clockmakers. On the fourth bell of the ring 

 cast in 17 14 by Richard Sanders of Bromsgrove, 

 appears the name, ' T. Eayre, Horo.' This 

 Thomas Eayre, who died in 17 16, had a son 

 Thomas, born in 1691, who in conjunction with 

 John Eayre, probably his uncle, opened a bell- 

 foundry at Kettering ; we find bells from this 

 foundry at Cranford St. John, Burton Latimer, 

 Mears Ash by, and Warkton. 



A bell from this foundry at Cranford St. John, 

 dated October, 1717, is inscribed: 'Thomas 

 et Johannes Eayre de Kettering fecerunt ' ; the 

 date of the following year is found on bells at 

 Burton Latimer, Mears Ashby, and Warkton — 

 all from the same foundry. After this date 

 there are no bells that bear the name of John 

 Eayre, and the foundry seems to have passed 

 under the sole management of Thomas Eayre, 

 whose bells are fairly numerous both in North- 

 amptonshire and in the adjoining counties. 

 Thomas Eayre carried on his father's business as a 

 clock-maker. At a vestry meeting in November, 

 1749, it was agreed to bargain with Mr. Thomas 

 Eayre for a new clock, the price of which was 

 not to exceed ^^60. He also made a wonderful 

 chime for Lord Mahon of Great Harrowden Hall, 

 which consisted of thirteen dish bells, the biggest 

 of which is about 2 cwt. Thomas Eayre died 

 in 1757, leaving as sole executor his only son 

 Thomas, who had been associated with his 



father in the bell-foundry, but he carried the 

 business on only for a few years, the foundry 

 being closed about 1762. The bells made at 

 Kettering are good in tone and well cast, and 

 are plentiful in Northamptonshire and in the 

 neighbouring counties. The site of the Ket- 

 tering bell-foundry was in the street now called 

 Wadcroft, which was formerly known as Bell- 

 founder Lane. 



There was a third bell-foundry at Peterborough 

 established by Henry Penn, in which were cast 

 some good bells for churches in Northampton- 

 shire and the adjoining counties. These were 

 cast, as the dates on them show, between 1703 

 and 1729. Penn, however, did not please the 

 good people of St. L'es, who, not very satisfied 

 with his work, went to law with him. Penn 

 gained the day, but died from the effects of over- 

 excitement as he was mounting his horse to 

 return home after the assizes at Huntingdon. 

 The site of the Peterborough foundry is not 

 definitely known, but it is thought to have been 

 situated on the east side of Broad Street. Penn 

 cast the whole ring of six bells now in use at 

 Yardley Hastings, where the curfew is rung 

 daily from Michaelmas to Easter. There are 

 altogether over thirty-five bells in the county 

 by Henry Penn. It will be seen by this short 

 account that bell-founding was continuous in 

 Northamptonshire from 1632, the earliest date 

 of the Bagley firm, down to 176 1, the date on 

 the tenor bell at Earls Barton, recast by Thomas 

 Eayre, who is said to have become a bankrupt 

 shortly after this, his business being taken over by 

 Edward Arnold, a nephew who set up business 

 at St. Neots. 



PIPE-MAKING 



Towards the end of the seventeenth century 

 smoking was not only allowed at the evening 

 meetings of the aldermen of Northampton, but 

 pipes were provided at the town's expense. 



In 1692, 8j. 8d. was paid for candles and 

 pipes for the hall. In 1698, 31. was spent on 

 '2 grosse of Pypes for the hall.' In 1703 

 2s. yd. was paid for six pounds of candles and 

 half a gross of pipes, and the practice of 

 purchasing pipes for the aldermen lasted to a 

 much later time.' 



As the only noted tobacco-pipe clay used at 

 this period in England, except the clay of Poole 

 and the Isle of Wight, was raised in Northampton 

 Fields, it is a legitimate inference that these pipes 

 were of local manufacture. Morton, the county 

 historian, in the autumn of 1705 examined two 

 clay pits situated on the land of Francis Arundel, 

 Esq., which were worked for the purpose of 

 raising this special material. In one the clay 



Northampton Borough Records, ii, 174. 



sought for was black, in the other grey, but 

 both varieties burnt very white. ' The diggers,' 

 he proceeds,^ 'cut the clay into rectangular 

 masses, which are sold either by measure or weight. 

 If the block of tobacco-pipe clay be ten inches 

 thick, then about thirteen inches square will 

 make a hundredweight of it. The men who 

 carry coal out of Warwickshire and Leicester- 

 shire to Northampton do frequently load back 

 with the clay. The like is done by the wag- 

 goners that bring us sea-coal from Bedford. It 

 is, as I am credibly informed, the main ingre- 

 dient, if not the only clay that's wrought up 

 in Brown Ware of the Notingham potteries. 

 It is used at Oxford for making pipes, being 

 mixed with a white clay from Shotover Hill.' 



As early as 1722 we have direct evidence of 

 the existence of the manufacture of pipes in 

 Northampton, and it is probable that it had then 

 been established for at least a generation. The 



308 



' Morton, 'Nat. Hist, of Northants, 7 1 . 



