John Taylor & Co

Taylor's bell foundry in Freehold Street, Loughborough, in late 2011

John Taylor & Co, commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry, Taylor's of Loughborough, or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell foundry. It is in Loughborough, in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. The business originated in the 14th century and became Taylor's after the Taylor family took over in 1784.

In 2009 Taylors went bankrupt but was bought out of administration by a consortium called UK Bellfoundries Ltd which successfully re-financed and re-established the business. Since then the company has re-established its presence both in the UK and in the North American Carillon and other export markets.

The company manufactures bells for use in clock towers, rings of bells for change ringing, chimes, and carillons. In 2005 John Taylor's had merged with Eayre & Smith Ltd (bellhangers) and from 2005 until 2009 became Taylors Eayre & Smith Ltd.^[1]

The Foundry has a museum of bells and bellfounding which is the only one of its kind in the UK. The restoration of the foundry buildings began with the re-opening in 2012 of the foundry's own Campanile which contains the most-pealed bells in the World. It is one of the few Victorian purpose-built manufacturing sites still being used for its original purpose and therefore of considerable heritage merit.

History

Inside the belfry of St Stephen's Church, Bristol, England. In 1970 Taylor's cast five of the twelve bells and a new frame in which they re-hung all twelve.

The present company is part of a line of bellfounders dating back to Johannes de Stafford in the 14th century who was also a mayor of Leicester.^[2] The Taylor family became involved in 1784 and a foundry was established on the current site in 1839. The Taylors also had foundries in Oxford and St Neots between 1786 and 1854.^[3] Taylors were the first bellfounder to adopt "true-harmonic" tuning in the late 19th century.^[4] The foundry is based in buildings on Freehold Street which are Grade II* listed.^[5][6]

In 1963, Paul Taylor, last of the Taylor family in the business, appeared on the American TV panel show What's My Line?, challenging the panel with his occupation as a bell maker.^[7]

On 18 September 2009 the company went into administration.^[8][9] Mazars, who had previously been acting as advisors to the company during attempts to secure extra funding were appointed Administrators.^[10] On 2 October 2009 it was reported that the administrators were "optimistic about its future."^[11] On 15 October 2009, in a statement released by UK Bellfounders Ltd., a consortium of ringers, members of the bell industry and other investors, it was stated that the foundry would reopen on 19 October, reverting to the previous name of John Taylor & Co.^[12][13] Paul Taylor's widow, Mrs Merle Taylor, is Hon President of the new company.

Before September 2009 the foundry was employing 26 people, and since then the new company employs 21 including 4 apprentices.

The National Twelve Bell Contest is competed for annually by the leading teams in England for "The Taylor Trophy".

Notable bells

Inscription on the Bourdon bell of the Baird Carillon at the University of Michigan

In 1881 Taylor's cast at Loughborough, "Great Paul", which is the largest British cast bell in Britain, for St Paul's Cathedral London, weighing 17,002 kilograms (37,483 lb) or more than 17 metric tons. Rock band AC/DC used a 2000-pound cast bronze bell for the song, "Hells Bells", which was originally used on the "Back in Black" tour in 1980. Many churches across the world have used bells cast at Taylor's Bell Foundry, including:

• Baird Carillon, a 55 bell carillon at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
• Carlisle Cathedral, 13 bells
• Edith Adamson Memorial Carillon, 25 bell carillon, Newcastle Civic Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne
• Gozo Cathedral, 11 Bells
• Lady St. Mary church, Wareham.^[14]
• Liverpool Cathedral bourdon bell "Great George", at 14,900 kg or more than 14 long tons 13 cwt, it is the second largest bell in Britain.^[15]
• Loughborough Carillon, (War Memorial) 47 bell carillon
• Manchester Town Hall, 23 bell carillon
• Monument Carillon, Canberra, 53 bell carillon
• Mount Saint Bernard Abbey, England's first post-reformation RC monastery, 2 bells, cast in 1936
• Singing Tower Carillon, at Lake Wales, Florida. A 60 bell carillon
• Yale Memorial Carillon, 54 bell carillon
• Kibbey Carillon, 53 bell carillon (1963), Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., USA
• Berkeley Carillon, Sather Tower original (1917) 12 bell chime by Taylor (later expanded to carillon), University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
• WWII Memorial Carillon, 53 bell carillon, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
• Stanton Memorial Carillon, 50 bell carillon (originally a 10 bell chime in 1899, expanded in 1920, 1954, 1967), Iowa State University, Ames,Iowa, USA
• Luray Singing Tower, 47 bell carillon (1937), Luray, Virginia, USA
• Duke Chapel carillon, 50 bell carillon (1932), Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
• St. Elisabeth's Church, Reddish
• St. Ethelred's church Horley, Oxfordshire, 2 bells cast in 2013
• St James's Church, Kingston (Isle of Purbeck), United Kingdom
• St. Mary's Church, Southampton^[16]
• St. Nicolas' Church, North Stoneham, Hampshire^[17]
• Siege Bell, Siege Bell War Memorial, Valletta, Malta. Designed by Michael Sandle and erected in 1992.
• Wellesley College Carillon, 32 bell carillon, (1931, last enlarged in 1990), Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA
• Wells Cathedral, 2 bells cast in 1877
• Sydney, Australia, GPO Clock Tower Bells
• Church of St Thomas the Apostle, Killinghall, bell for chiming clock
• Downside Abbey, Great Bede, The bell for Downside Abbey and School

References

Tenor bell of St Mary's parish church, Almeley, Herefordshire. Taylor's cast and hung the bell in 1960.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Taylor & Co.

• Company website
• Panorama of the foundry
• History of the Taylor family
• Sydney GPO (General Post Office) Bells

Coordinates: 52°46′23.44″N 1°11′56.10″W / 52.7731778°N 1.1989167°W / 52.7731778; -1.1989167