INDUSTRIES 



known to be by London founders of this time, 

 a peculiar flat moulding above the inscription.* 

 This small point seems to be sufficient justifica- 

 tion for assigning them to a founder in the 

 metropolis. It is further probable that they 

 date from the intervening period between 

 Wymbish and Rider. Now, there was a founder 

 of this period who, though working in London, 

 was probably a Hertfordshire man, one John 

 de Hadham, whose name occurs in records 

 between 1330 and 1339.' The Clothall and 

 Rawreth bells may fairly be assigned to him, 

 and as ' Johannes ' on the former probably 

 denotes the founder, not the donor, this supplies 

 additional evidence. 



It is not until after the middle of the r6th 

 century that we meet with any definite evidence 

 as to bell-founding in Hertfordshire. In 1557 

 the name of a bell-founder, Clarke, Hving at 

 Datchworth, occurs in connexion with some 

 bells at Graveley, brought from the priory of 

 Wymondley. Among the Land Revenue papers 

 at the Record OfBce is a certificate of their 

 weight made 26 May 1557: 'The weyght of 

 the said iiij belles by estimacion of a bell funder 

 woos name is Clarke dwellyng at Thesthewurth 

 in the Count' of Hertf . . . dowth wey xviij 

 hundryth weyght,' &c. Thesthewurth is 

 obviously intended for Datchworth (near Wel- 

 wyn), which was formerly spelled and is still 

 sometimes pronounced Thatchworth. Stahl- 

 schmidt' identified as this founder's work a bell 

 (the fifth) at Braughing, which is inscribed 



DEUS IN ADIUTOUIR MEU INTENDS IC 1 562 



the date being placed on the crown above. The 

 Datchworth registers unfortunately only begin 

 in 1570, and yield no information about this 

 Clarke, whose Christian name may be assumed 

 to have been John, but between 1572 and 1587 

 there was a John Clarke living there, probably 

 the bell-founder's son, and the baptism of seven 

 of his sons is recorded. One of the latter, 

 baptized in 1575 by the name of John, may 

 possibly be identical with a bell-founder who 

 flourished between 1599 and 1 621. The bells 

 by this later John Clarke are, however, very 

 widely scattered, and he is more likely to have 

 been an ' itinerant ' than to have had a settled 

 home, like many other founders of the period. 

 One of his bells occurs in Hertfordshire, at 

 Eastwick, dated 1601. There are six in Essex 

 and solitary specimens in Bedfordshire, Bucking- 

 hamshire, Hampshire, Kent, Norfolk, Suffolk 

 and Sussex. 

 There are two or three other itinerant founders 



' It occurs on the treble at Little Hallingbury, 

 Essex, which has no inscription, but is probably by 

 the same founder as Clothall. 



^ See Stahlschmidt, Surrey Bells, 73 ; Deedes and 

 Walters, Ch. Bells of Essex, 6. 



' Ch. Bells of Herts. 32. 



who have left their traces in Hertfordshire about 

 this period, the best known of whom is John 

 Diet (1577-98), twelve bells by whom remain in 

 the county. Five of them being dated 1595, 

 it is probable that he was at that time tem- 

 porarily residing somewhere in the neighbour- 

 hood of Hitchin, where they are chiefly found. 

 The others range between 1580 and 1597, and 

 one at Hemel Hempstead is undated. Dier's 

 work is found in most of the neighbouring 

 counties. 



John Grene cast bells for Harpenden in 1571 

 and 1574, both now unfortunately recast. He 

 is otherwise only known in Huntingdonshire 

 and Essex. There are also specimens of the 

 work of a nameless founder in three towers 

 round Baldock (Clothall, Newnham and Norton), 

 which belong to the same period. His bells 

 occur in Bedfordshire,^ Buckinghamshire, Cam- 

 bridgeshire and Northamptonshire, and are re- 

 markable for their unintelligible inscriptions, a 

 meaningless jumble of crowns, fleurs de hs, and 

 odd letters ; none of them are dated. 



When we reach the 17th century we find 

 ourselves on firmer ground, and the first genuine 

 local founder appears on the scene. This is 

 Robert Oldfield, probably an offshoot of the 

 famous bell-founding family at Nottingham," 

 though of this there is no proof. Little is 

 known about him except that he was a resident 

 in the parish of St. Andrew, Hertford.^" Here 

 in St. Andrew's Street, exactly opposite the 

 church of that name, is an inn, known in 1624, 

 as at the present day, as the Little Bell Inn. 

 In 1625 it is mentioned in the Corporation 

 Archives as the 'Bell Mould,' and from 1628 to 

 172633 the ' Golden Bell,' and the name has since 

 varied, but always retained the word ' Bell ' in 

 some form. Here we learn from the archives 

 that Oldfield was resident until 1640, when the 

 name of the tenant is given as John Oldfield 

 (probably a son), who held it till 1660. At the 

 back of the inn are workshops and a yard in 

 which the founder probably carried on his 

 business. There is no record in the parish 

 registers either of St. Andrew or All Saints of 

 Oldfield's birth, marriage, or burial, but in 1622 

 a son of his was buried, and another shortly 

 after, both at St. Andrews. If he came origi- 

 nally from Nottingham or elsewhere this might 

 explain the absence of birth or marriage records ; 

 of his death we have other evidence. His 

 administration bond, dated 7 May 1650, is at 

 Somerset House, and he is there described as of 

 the parish of St. Andrew.^ In the registers of 



* ' John Bunyan's bell ' at Elstow is one of this 

 group. ' See V.C.H. J^olis. ii, 369. 



1" For most of the following particulars the writer 

 is indebted to the kindness of Mr. W. F. Andrews, of 

 Hertford. See also Herts. Mercury, 31 March and 

 21 April 1888. 



11 Cocks, Ch. Bells of Bucks. 163. 



269 



