A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



There are, however, certain changes in the 

 lettering used on bells from this year, and the 

 arabesque (fig. 3) makes its appearance ; and the 

 fact of Bartholomew's name appearing on a few 

 bells of later date, may merely be an early in- 

 stance of the common modern trade practice of re- 

 taining a man's name in the title of the firm for 

 years after his death. This was almost certainly 

 done in the case of Robert, a few years later. 

 A bell at Chellington, Bedfordshire, has : 



ROBERT n ATTOH n MADE n MEE a 1611 a 

 W ATTOM a 



This is the only 

 bell known to 

 bear the name 23 

 of W. Atton, 

 whose baptism 

 seems to be re- 

 corded by the fol- 

 lowing entry in 

 the Buckingham 

 Register: '1596 

 September Wm. 

 films Bartholomei 

 Atton decimo 

 die.' 



He probably 

 discarded bell- 

 founding in favour 

 of a draper's busi- 

 ness, and served 

 the office of Bailiff 

 of Buckingham 

 four times, dying 

 in October 1655. 

 Of his two sons 

 who survived in- 

 fancy one was cer- 

 tainly, and the 

 other with little 

 doubt, a draper, 

 neither having 



any connexion with bell-founding. 



Bartholomew's name is reported 23 on a bell 



at Paulerspury, Northamptonshire, dated 1613 ; 



on one at Kidlington, Oxfordshire, dated 



1621 ; 24 on one at Passenham, Northampton- 



Fic. 3 



shire, dated 1624 ; and on one formerly at 

 Blisworth, Northamptonshire, dated 1626. All 

 of these (except perhaps the Kidlington bell), 

 have also Robert's initials, who continued bell- 

 founding until 1628, in which year the Buck- 

 ingham Register records that he was buried on 

 6 May. Robert had a son and namesake, but 

 the subsequent history of the business leaves 

 hardly any doubt that the entry refers to the 

 elder of the name. 



Dated this year is the fourth bell at Grand- 

 borough, inscribed : 



ROBERT ATTON NATHANIEL BOLTTER 



and ornamented by stamps already used by the 

 Attons, and a new running pattern (fig. 4), 

 which forms a connecting link between this 

 foundry and the Bagleys, as mentioned a little 

 further on. 25 



There was formerly a similarly dated and 

 inscribed bell at Harpole, Northamptonshire, but 

 the devices are not recorded. 26 



Bolter was evidently not a native of Bucking- 

 ham. In the registers of All Saints', Leices- 

 ter, is an entry of the burial of a William Bolther 

 in 1594-5. Between 1654 and 1664 there was 

 a Nathaniel Bolter at the Salisbury bell-foundry, 

 and a Jonathan Bolter there in 1656. 



A bell at Great Horwood and another at 

 Tingewick, dated 1623, are inscribed in one of 

 the Atton sets of letters, ornamented with one 

 of their roses : 



PRAYSE YE THE LORDE ALWAYSE 



The same inscription, with the rose again, 

 but wanting the last word, is on the third bell 

 at Grandborough ; and a bell at Edgcote, and 

 another at Paulerspury, both in Northampton- 

 shire, have the full inscription again, but the 

 lettering and ornaments are not stated. 27 This 

 inscription on five bells in the same year, and 

 on no other known bell from this foundry, 

 suggests that some one besides Robert Atton 

 had a hand in their casting, neither his name 

 or initials being on any of them. On the 

 Great Horwood bell are, in addition, the initials 



FIG. 4. 



" Mr. North, in Bells of Beds, mentions a bell " The saunce at Chipping Norton, Oxon. by R.P. 



inscribed w. ATTON & SON. but this is shown in Bells 162^., hi> this running pittern (Ex inform. Mr. H. B. 



of Bucks (p. 208) to be an abso'.ute illusion. Walters, F.S.A.). 



M North, Bells of Northants. " North, Bills of Northnnts. 



" Ex Inform. Mr. A. D. Tyssen, D.C.L. " Ibid. 



122 



