A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



BELL-FOUNDING 



Neither in mediaeval nor in later times did 

 the county of Hertford contain any beU- 

 foundry of long standing or extended reputation, 

 Uke those of Nottingham, Reading, Gloucester, 

 or Bristol, yet bells were cast from time to 

 time within its borders, and in the 17th and 1 8th 

 centuries temporary foundries were set up in at 

 least four different centres. 



The records of the abbey of St. Albans afford 

 more or less definite evidence that the bells of 

 that church were more than once cast on the 

 spot, and moreover that the founders in these 

 cases were not ordinary tradesmen, but actual 

 members of the monastic foundation. The 

 earliest record of this kind goes back to the 

 13th century, a period when we have little or 

 no evidence of the ejdstence of regular bell- 

 founders such as we hear of in London and other 

 towns during the i4ih and succeeding centuries. 

 Although very few remaining church bells can 

 be traced back to that early date, the existence 

 of towers built to hold them is sufficient proof 

 that they were in general use as far back as the 

 nth century at least. Yet the names of known 

 founders before 1300 are exceedingly few, and 

 it seems probable that the art of bell-founding 

 was largely pr.ictised by the monastic orders 

 before it was organized into a trade. At a later 

 time we find occasional evidence of ecclesias- 

 tical bell-founders, and therefore this need 

 excite no surprise. 



We read then in the Chronicles of St. Albans 

 that in the days of Roger Norton, the twenty- 

 fourth abbot (1260-90), some important work 

 was carried out in connexion with the bells, 

 together with other improvements associated 

 with his rule. Previously there were four bells, 

 given in 1077-93, and for these were substituted 

 three of larger size. ' A great bell truly and a 

 most sonorous one, called by the name of 

 St. Amphibalus, he caused to be made for 

 tolling the curfew daily, other two bells in 

 honour of St. .-Vlban and St. Katherine being 

 made at the same time, under the super- 

 intendence of Sir John de Marins, then prior of 

 this church, out of four old bells broken up, 

 without adding the smallest quantity of metal.'* 



\^'e are not, of course, definitely told that 

 Sir John de Marins actually took part in the 

 casting or designing of the bells, but it seems 

 pretty clear that they were made by ecclesias- 

 tical and not secular craftsmen under the direc- 

 tion of the prior himself. More direct evidence 

 of monastic achievements in this line appears in 

 the time of Michael Mentmore, twenty-ninth 

 abbot (1335-49). Tt^ great bell called Amphi- 

 balus (mentioned above) was broken while 



> Gata Jbbct. Mm. S. Albani (Rolls Ser.), i, 483. 



curfew was being tolled, and was recast by 

 Friar Adam de Dankastre in the hall of the 

 sacristy.' It seems hkely that he was also the 

 maker of a successor to the St. Alban bell about 

 the same time, as there is a record of the 

 consecration of these two bells by Lord Hugh, 

 Archbishop of Damascus. About 1370 a new 

 bell was made and named ' Christ,' and in 1485 

 another was christened ' John,' but there is 

 apparently no record of their maker. The 

 five old bells of the abbey, which survived the 

 Dissolution, were recast by Philip Wightman, 

 of London, in 1699, and in that form four still 

 remain.' 



There appears to be no trace of any secular 

 bell-founders in the county during the period 

 preceding the Reformation. Of the thirty 

 mediaeval bells still remaining in the county, 

 no less than twenty-one were cast in London 

 and five at Toddington in Bedfordshire (by 

 John and WiUiam Rufford). There is one 

 example from each of the foundries at Bury 

 St. Edmund's, Reading, and Wokingham.* But 

 there remains one bell of unique character, 

 which cannot be assigned to any known foundry, 

 viz., the second at Little Berkhampstead. The 

 inscription 



-(-AVE MARIA GRACIA PLENA DOMINVS TECVM 

 BENEDICTA TV IN MVLIERIBVS 



is in small Gothic capitals, rather rough and 

 carelessly stamped, and placed closely round 

 the upper part of the bell, without the usual 

 intervening stops between the words. The 

 initial cross has plain trefoils at the ends of the 

 arms. Neither cross nor lettering has been 

 found on any other bell, and it is quite probable 

 that it is the work of a local (? Hertford) 

 craftsman, dating from about the middle of the 

 14th century. 



There is an early bell at Clothall, near Baldock, 

 with the curious inscription 



-I-calit: me ioannes 



of which no satisfactory interpretation has as 

 yet been given. The lettering is also found on 

 a bell at Rawreth, in Essex, and was originally 

 in the hands of the London founder, Richard 

 Wymbish (about 1300-20). Subsequently it 

 reappears, with the same plain cross as at 

 Clothall and Rawreth, on a bell by Robert 

 Rider, of London (1350-86), at Ridgewell, in 

 Essex. The two first-named bells have, in 

 common with the Wymbish bells and others 



^ Gesta Abbat. Mm. S. Alhani (Rolls Ser.), ii, 363. 



' For the history of the St. Albans bells see Stahl- 

 schmidt, Ch. Bells of Herts. 98 fF. 



* Two others, formerly at Sawbridgeworth, were 

 cast just over the Essex border about I 540. 



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