By the Rev. W. C. Lukis. 



45 



founders had their foundries in this county, but you will neverthe- 

 less be gratified to hear that Wiltshire has produced some of the 

 most eminent men of this craft : I allude to Wallis, Danton, and 

 the Purdues of Salisbury, in the 16th and 17th centuries; to the 

 Corrs and Wellses of Aldbourne, in the 17th, 18th, and 19th cen- 

 turies; and in the 18th century to Richard Phelps, of Whitechapel, 

 London, a native of Avebury, who cast the great clock bell of 

 St. Paul's cathedral, weighing nearly four tons. It will be, I 

 believe, a new thing to the people of Salisbury to hear that a very 

 large bell-foundry existed here for a considerable period. I have 

 ascertained that it continued to supply Wiltshire and other counties 

 with bells for a period ranging from 1581 to 1731, and yet it is a 

 very remarkable circumstance that no tradition of its existence has 

 been perpetuated in the city. I have searched, in vain, through 

 published histories of Salisbury, and have been equally unsuccessful 

 in my enquiries here among those gentlemen who have made its 

 antiquities and history their study. Not one vestige remains of 

 the foundry, nor a single record of its site has yet come under my 

 notice. I have, however, been informed that the street called 

 Culver Street, was also called Bell-founder's Street; 1 and it is just 

 possible that it stood there. 



That the foundry must have been large and its business extensive, 

 is evident from the very large proportion of bells in Wiltshire 

 that came from it ; and also from the fact that the heaviest bells in 

 the county were cast there. It could not have been an insignificant 

 foundry that produced such bells as the tenor of St. Edmund's 

 church in this city, and the tenor of Great Bedwyn. The earliest 

 founder in Wilts with whom I am acquainted, was J. Wallis, of 

 Salisbury, and his first bells are to be found at Little Bedwyn, Bishop- 

 stone, Figheldean, Netheravon, Chute, St. Martin's Salisbury, &c. 



1 In the Report of the Commissioners of Charities we find : ' Salisbury — 

 Thomas Bee's charity; By Deed Poll, dated 29 Nov. 1624, Bartholomew Tooke 

 and Wm. Marshall, in pursuance of the Will of Thomas Bee, conveyed one 

 Messuage or Tenement, three Gardens, and two Orchards with the appurts. in 

 Culver Street al s Bell-founder's Street in New Sarum, upon the Trusts of his 

 Will, &c.' 



