INDUSTRIES 



Roger Green and William Pateman, church- 

 wardens of Grantham, with whom he had agreed 

 to make a baritone bell (a mertun) for the sum 

 of 5 marks. This bell, it appears, was to be 

 made ' out of an old broken bell then and there 

 hanging in Grantham steeple, and to be delivered 

 in 3 days.' Seliok, having received his instruc- 

 tions, proceeded to prepare forms, moulds, and 

 all other necessaries for founding, to the value of 

 10 marks. The contract was, however, given 

 over his head to one John Wooley, whereby the 

 work, industry, and labour of the Nottingham 

 founder was brought to naught. The court, 

 however, non-suited his claim for 20 marks, 

 holding that the agreement had been entered 

 into by conversation which took place at Grant- 

 ham, and therefore out of the jurisdiction of 

 that court. 21 



For some two hundred years the Oldfield 

 dynasty were famous bell-founders in the county. 

 The Henry Oldfield, potter, of Lister Gate, 

 Nottingham, whose name appears in the will of 

 Margery Mellers in 1539, was probably iden- 

 tical with Henry Oldfield, bell-founder, with 

 whom, in 1545, the churchwardens of Mottram, 

 in Cheshire, entered into an agreement for ' the 

 exchange of a tenor bell for 20s.,' the founder's 

 servant, Henry Stockes, being associated with his 

 master in the undertaking. The bell was to be 

 'of a true accord with the other two bells in 

 Mottram steeple ; ' if not, the founders were ' to 

 carry and re-carry the same until they had 

 brought a bell of perfect accord.' They were 

 also to keep the bell in repair for a twelve- 

 month. 22 The Thomas Oldfield who supplied 

 a bell to Melton Mowbray in 1553 IS supposed 

 to have been a relative of Henry's. 23 Henry 

 Oldfield was assessed to a lay subsidy in Not- 

 tingham in I558. 24 From 1572-3 this founder 

 was largely employed. He was the first to 

 introduce the practice of adding the date to the 

 legends on his castings. A bell at Sutton 

 Bonnington, cast in 1579, bears his usual em- 

 blems, the Cross of Calvary, with his initials on 

 either side, and, above, a star and crescent, a 

 crown being sometimes added. 



The first Henry Oldfield died in isSg. 26 

 Contemporaries of this founder were Thomas 

 Reve and his brother Mychael, who received 

 j5 10s. in 1567 from the churchwardens of 

 Worksop for casting four bells and three 

 brasses ; 2S and Thomas Wood, who paid 1 2d. 

 rental for a garden in Nottingham in I573-4- 27 



" Ree. Bora. Nott. iii, 199. " Ibid. 445. 



n Phillimore, op. cit. 112. 



" Ibid. In 1574-5 Henry Oldfield was living in 

 Long Row, afterwards known as Bellfounders' Yard ; 

 Rec. Bon. Nott. iv, 106, 205. 



" Rec. Bon. Nott. iv, 232. 



16 Churchwardens' Accts. Worksop, in White, 

 Duktry Rec. 3 1 6. 



" Rec. Bon. Nott. iv, 185. 



The second Henry Oldfield was casting from 

 1590 to 1620. His stamp is the same as his 

 predecessor's, with the occasional addition, for 

 his most important works, of ' Made Bi Henry 

 Oldfield.' In 1592 he cast the first bell of 

 Holme; 28 in 1593 he was associated with 

 Robert Quernby in casting two bells, on which 

 both founders' names occur, the tenor bell of 

 Lincoln Cathedral, and the third bell of Rusk- 

 ington. 29 In 1595 his name appears alone on 

 the bell which he cast for St. Mary's. 30 In 

 1603 we find him being presented by the 

 Mickletorn jury for inclosing a certain parcel 

 of ground called Cockpytt Leys (probably, says 

 Mr. Stevenson, near the Cockpit at the Coppice 

 or St. Anne's Well), but there is no evidence 

 forthcoming as to this having been the site of 

 his foundry. 31 



In 1609 he cast the first bell of Plumtree. 32 

 The tenor bell at Papplewick, which bears the 

 date 1620, and the inscription, i SWEETLY TOLING 



MEN DO CALL TO TASTE ON MEATE THAT FEEDS 



THE SOUL, is proved by the trade mark to be 

 from Henry Oldfield's foundry, and was prob- 

 ably the last cast by him, his death taking place 

 in the year recorded on the bell. 33 



In addition to his Nottinghamshire bells, Old- 

 field cast largely for Lincolnshire, where his 

 bells are hung at Alkborough, Asgarby, Aylesby, 

 North Carlton, Marvis Enderby, Hagworthing- 

 ham, Holton le Clay, Kirkby cum Osgodby, 

 Lenton, South Willingham, and Wragby. 34 An 

 assistant of Oldfield's, Henry Dand, whose 

 daughter Frances married Robert Quernby, and 

 whose name occurs, together with that of 

 'Harry Oldfield,' in 1591 in the books of 

 Shrewsbury Abbey Church, 35 also cast bells for 

 several Lincolnshire churches, as Burgh, Ewerby, 

 South Hykeham, Lenton, and Corby. 36 



The episode of Oldfield's connexion with 

 Congleton in Cheshire may be briefly noticed 

 before passing on to consider the work of his 

 successors. In 1586 Oldfield married Mary 

 daughter of Richard Spencer, who was mayor of 

 Congleton in 1582-3, 1 585-6, and 1595-6. The 

 marriage seems to have secured for him the com- 

 mission to cast the first and second bells of the 

 chapel at Congleton in 1595, the parish records 

 of that place still preserving the bond where- 

 by ' Henricus Owtfield de Nottingham, bell- 

 founder,' agrees with ' Willmo. Stubbes maior 

 de Congleton,' in the sum of ^40 to keep in 

 repair two new bells lately cast by him, ' that 



" Thornton Soc. Tram, ix, 36. 



19 North, Church Bells Lines. 103. 



10 Reliquary, xiii, 82. K Rec. Bon. Nott. iv, 264. 



" TAorotoa Soc. Train, ix, 82. 



* Briscoe, Old Notts. (Ser. 2), 26. His burial is 

 recorded in the Churchwardens' Bk. of St. Mary's : 

 ' For Henry Oldfield, 6s. 8</.' Rec. Bon. Nott. iv, 2 3 2. 



" North, Church Bells, of Lines. 124. 



"Ibid. "Ibid. no. 



3 6 9 



47 



