Britain’s last remaining major bellfoundry saved with £3.45m National Lottery funding
The last remaining major bellfoundry in Britain has been saved just in time for Christmas, thanks to £3.45m from the National Lottery.
We are thrilled to have helped the Loughborough Bellfoundry Trust secure this funding and secure the future of this iconic piece of British heritage. We have worked with the Trust since around 2014 to initially secure urgent repair grants from Historic England, set up the Trust, undertake feasibility work and then coordinate and develop a major bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF). Alongside securing the £3.45m from the NLHF we have also helped the Trust to secure match funding of £150,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation, £40,000 from The Pilgrim Trust, £10,000 from the Architectural Heritage Fund and £50,000 from Swire Charitable Trust.
The Loughborough Bellfoundry Trust has, like much of the UK’s heritage, been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. This year we have also helped the Trust to secure £93,300 Heritage Emergency Fund grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund earlier this year and £246,500 from the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage, as well as a £499,918 Heritage At Risk Urgent Repairs Grant from Historic England.
Since 1859, the iconic Loughborough Bellfoundry, home to John Taylor & Co bellfounders, has cast more than 25,000 bells that are hung in over 100 countries, in churches, cathedrals, universities and public buildings. 20 million people in Britain, and hundreds of millions worldwide, hear a bell cast at the Loughborough Bellfoundry every day.
Bells from the foundry have even entered popular culture – the bells from St Thomas’s Church, in Fifth Avenue, New York, which can be heard on The Pogues and Kirsty McColl’s Christmas anthem Fairytale of New York, were cast at the site.
However, the globally unique, purpose-built Victorian bellfoundry was at serious risk of being permanently lost without urgent repairs. The closure of the bellfoundry would be a huge loss to traditional craftsmanship, with a seismic impact on historic buildings around the world.
Now, thanks to the £3.45m grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund – and match-funding bringing the total to £5m – the site will be secured for the future and removed from the Heritage at Risk register.
The money will not only pay for urgent repairs – protecting the foundry from further decay and potential loss – it will also be used to train a new generation in bell-making skills, deliver an engagement and outreach programme, increase access to the unique archive, expand production and develop the onsite bell museum as a heritage destination, attracting visitors from around the world.
The funds have been awarded to The Loughborough Bellfoundry Trust, a not-for-profit organisation responsible for the protection of the Grade II listed Loughborough Bellfoundry buildings and the onsite bell museum and archive, which showcases almost 160 years of bells and bellfounding.
Hannah Taylor, chair of the Loughborough Bellfoundry Trust, said: “This news is the best possible Christmas present and will ensure that the foundry, its buildings, the museum and rare archive will be protected, and that Loughborough bells are heard and enjoyed by many future generations around the world.
“As well as to protect the site, our aim is to make the Loughborough Bellfoundry the global centre for the art of bell making and learning and provide an engaging and exciting visitor experience. Thanks to National Lottery players, we can do exactly that.”
Bellfounders John Taylor & Co employ a team of 30, with a range of highly specialist heritage skills including casting, tuning and finishing bells. It produces all of the associated parts and mechanisms such as frames, headstocks, wheels, hand-bells, carillons and bell ropes.
Ros Kerslake, CEO of the National Lottery Heritage Fund said:
“The Loughborough Bellfoundry is the perfect example of why we invest National Lottery money in our heritage – it creates jobs, encourages tourism, keeps heritage skills alive and most of all, ensures a future for a unique and valuable heritage that makes all our lives better.
“I am delighted to be able to share this news at Christmas. It’s is wonderful way to end a challenging year for all of us, not least our heritage organisations. We are looking forward to a brighter future for the Loughborough Bellfoundry in 2021.”
The National Lottery Heritage Fund grant will be used for:
• removing the buildings from the At Risk register and undertaking repairs;
• reorganising the factory, making it more efficient;
• securing the long-term sustainability of numerous at-risk craft skills and jobs;
• improving the visitor experience throughout;
• enhancing, expanding and modernising the existing museum;
• improving and enlarging the archive; and
• delivery of a wide-reaching engagement and outreach programme.
Heritage Minister Nigel Huddleston said:
“Heard by millions of people across the world everyday, bells produced by Taylor’s bellfoundry are an example of a great British export success story and an important part of our cultural heritage. I am delighted that, with this grant, a new generation will learn bell-making skills and the museum will be developed into an exciting tourist destination, safeguarding the future of our heritage.”
Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England said:
“Bells made at the Loughborough Bellfoundry hang in thousands of buildings across the world, and their peals have been heard and enjoyed by millions. Home to John Taylor & Co, a family business dating back to the middle of the 14th century, the bellfoundry has been the pride of Loughborough for over 160 years. This grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund will allow for essential repairs and give more people the chance to understand how special the foundry is, ensuring it continues to play an important part in today’s world.”
The Loughborough Bellfoundry – amazing facts
- The bells that can be heard in The Pogues and Kirsty McColl’s Fairytale of New York were cast here for St Thomas’s Church, in Fifth Avenue, New York.
- The bell used for the AC/DC track Hells Bells was also cast at Loughborough. The band then took the specially-branded AC/DC bell on its 1980 Back in Black tour.
- The largest church bell in Britain, Great Paul, was cast at the Loughborough Bellfoundry in 1881 and now hangs in St Paul’s Cathedral.
- Many thousands of bells that ring in Churches and Cathedrals were cast at the Loughborough Bellfoundry.
- More large bells have been cast at the Loughborough Bellfoundry than any other bellfoundry in Britain – more than 200 of which weigh in excess of two tonnes
- John Taylor & Co. continues a line of bell founding which has been unbroken since the middle of the 14th Century
Famous Bells Around the World
- The Great George Bell at Liverpool Cathedral.
- St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney
- National Carillon, Canberra
- Siege Bell War Memorial, Malta
- The Custom House, Shanghai, China
- Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A
- National Cathedral, Washington DC, USA
- St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Singapore
- Niagara Falls, Rainbow Bridge, Canada
- City Hall, Capetown South Africa
- St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland
- The Guildhall, Derry, Northern Ireland
- The Parish Church of St Mary, Minera, Clwyd, Wales
Notes to Editors
About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
• Using money raised by the National Lottery, we Inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future. www.HeritageFund.org.uk.
• National Lottery players continue to raise around £30 million to good causes every week
• Since The National Lottery began in 1994 it has made more than 5,700 millionaires but its primary purpose is giving to good causes. The total raised for Good Causes since 1994 is over £42 billion and over 629,000 grants have been awarded across the UK, that’s the equivalent of 200 life-changing projects in every UK postcode district.
• The majority (70 percent) of National Lottery grants across arts, community, heritage and sport projects are for £10,000 or less
Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund
About Loughborough Bellfoundry Trust
The Loughborough Bellfoundry Trust (LBT) is the owner of the John Taylor Bellfoundry and the landlord for John Taylor & Co, the historic bellfounders who occupy the site. It is also the owner of Bellfoundry Collections Ltd. which is responsible for the existing museum, archive and providing tours. LBT is a CIO, established in April 2016. With the site having been rescued from administrators in 2009 by UK Bellfoundries Ltd, the LBT was established to hold the Taylor’s Bellfoundry site in perpetuity to ensure the last remaining Bellfoundry in Britain would not be lost.
The registered objects of the LBT are:
a. To promote the conservation and enhancement of the Listed historic Taylor’s Bellfoundry, its machinery, equipment and archives, for the public benefit
b. To advance the education of the public in the history, traditions and craft of bell making, bell hanging and bell ringing (and all associated skills and techniques)
c. To establish and maintain a museum for the benefit of the public
d. To advance such other charitable purposes (according to the law of England and Wales) as the trustees from time to time see fit.
www.loughboroughbellfoundry.org
