A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



business, to be treated of presently, forming 

 the second of the Reading bellfoundries. 



Goroway (or Galaway, etc.) has no recog- 

 nizable work surviving to the present day, 

 and, documentary notices of him being ex- 

 tremely meagre, his business (if he ever had 

 one of his own, independent of being a fore- 

 man in the old foundry) was, we may sup- 

 pose, very slight. In the Churchwardens' 

 Accounts of St. Lawrence's parish, Reading, 

 for 1564, is an item of izs. received of ' Vin- 

 cent Gorway ' for 10 pounds ' of certayne 

 brasse,' and in those of St. Giles's, Reading, 

 for 1569, is an entry of 13*. 4^. paid to 

 ' Vyncent ' for the ' pte of Castinge of the 

 Bell.' But as Vincent appears as a surname 

 in these accounts on several occasions, though 

 never as a bellfounder, it is a matter of con- 

 jecture whether it is here meant for Goro- 

 way's Christian name. 



William Welles, the third of the contem- 

 porary bellfounders in Reading, has been 

 considered as the successor of Saunders in the 

 old business, but there only remain two bells, 

 so far as I am aware, which we can put to his 

 credit. One of these, the treble at Leck- 

 hampstead (Bucks) is inscribed ' gaude virgo 

 matr ' in the large set of black-letter smalls 

 introduced by Saunders, the letters spaced 

 with most surprising irregularity. 



It should perhaps be placed to Saunders's 

 account, but if so, Leckhampstead being over 

 forty miles distant as the crow flies from 

 Reading, it is not unlikely that he sent his 

 assistant to cast it on the spot, and Welles is 

 very likely to have been that assistant. The 

 other bell, also in Buckinghamshire, at 

 Radclive, has an interesting mixture : SANCTE 

 GEORGE ORA. The S is a clumsy imitation 

 of the fourteenth century crowned Woking- 

 ham set, and so is probably the G, though it 

 has no crown. The O is a stranger to me ; 

 the smalls are the same large set of black- 

 letter, except the o in George, which is not 

 black-letter, and is smaller than the other 

 letters. The words are divided by a stamp 

 between each, namely the pair of Royal 

 Heads usually believed to represent Edward 

 III. and his queen Philippa. This is the only 

 known instance of the appearance of these 

 wanderers in Reading. The words are fol- 

 lowed by the well known stamp of William 

 Dawe, alias Founder (already mentioned, 

 p. 417), who flourished in London between 

 about 1385 and 1418. These three stamps, 

 whose original home was London, may show 

 that Saunders or his successor had something 

 to do with a London business. So far as is 

 known, this re-appearance of Dawe's stamp is 

 a unique instance. The inscription ends with 



the letters K and V. The former is Hasyl- 

 wood's letter (placed on its back), and the 

 latter is about the size of the Wokingham set 

 (but uncrowned). I can find no possible 

 donor's or rector's name to fit these initials, 

 and can only speculate whether the former 

 stands for Knight and the latter for Vincent 

 Goroway. A good many entries of Welles or 

 Wells are in the Registers and Churchwardens' 

 Accounts of St. Lawrence's and St. Mary's, 

 Reading ; among the accounts of the former 

 parish, a ' Goodman Welles,' whose interment 

 charges are entered in the year 1573-4, was 

 probably the bellfounder, who most likely 

 died about March 1572-3. The inventory 

 of his goods at Somerset House is an inter- 

 esting document, mentioning among his other 

 possessions ' ij bowes, a sheiffe of arrowes, a 

 habbarde, a sworde and a coote of plate.' His 

 trade is proved by an iron beame, pott- 

 mowldes, meltinge pannes, etc., ' In the bell- 

 house.'* Other curious items are quoted in 

 Church Sells of Bucks, p. 78. The inventory 

 is not itself dated, but is docketed 1572. 



By 1578 Joseph Carter was manager of this 

 foundry, but whether he started on the death 

 of Welles or whether any one intervened is 

 not known, but the former, however, is more 

 probable. His name first appears in the 

 Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Lawrence's, 

 Reading, for the year 1581, but the items for 

 the recasting of the ' great bell ' and one 

 other, run through those of the two previous 

 years, without the founder's name being 

 mentioned, and had there been a change of 

 personnel during that time we may suppose 

 the former name would also have been men- 

 tioned. His name is repeated in the accounts 

 for 1582, 1584 and 1585. In 1593 he was 

 churchwarden of the church of St. Lawrence. 

 Under date ' 29 of December 1596 ' : 



At this accompt also y' was agreed That our 

 gret Bell should be cast againe, and not so much 

 the Tune of the bell was cared for, as to have y* 

 A lowd bell and hard fltar. And the churchwarden, 

 Joseph Carter, consented and agreed, to cast yt 

 before Midsomer ffollowing : And so he was 

 chosen againe Churchwarden the second Time. 

 There being present m r . ffranceys More, m r . John- 

 son, mr. Lydall, Goodma Russell, the church- 

 wardens, w" 1 others. 



I have notes of fifty-two bells by Joseph 

 Carter between 1581 and 1609. In Berk- 

 shire, sixteen ; Buckinghamshire, eight ; 

 Essex, one ; Hampshire, six ; Kent, three ; 

 Oxfordshire, ten ; Surrey, one ; Sussex, seven. 

 There is also a bell at Pamber (Hants) dated 

 two years earlier than any of these, which is 

 probably by him, and which appears to have 





418 



