[Bell Historians] Lulls in bellfounding activity

Tue Dec 29 20:35:05 GMT 2020

I maintain a list of bells by founder which includes bells that have been
recast, the information has been gleaned from county books, nbr, Dove and
other sources, although obviously incomplete I have totals for the 17th
century as follows:-

1600 76     1610 149     1620 196     1630 192     1640 161     1650  69
  1660 143     1670 159     1680 137     1690  49
1601 84     1611 137     1621 210     1631 186     1641 127     1651  67
  1661 143     1671 138     1681 179     1691  60
1602 105   1612 134     1622 181     1632 173     1642  53      1652 107
 1662 223     1672 131     1682 178     1692  78
1603 95     1613 147     1623 199     1633 174     1643   8       1653 87
     1663 214     1673 118     1683 161     1693 103
1604 96     1614 121     1624 216     1634 188     1644   5       1654 131
   1664 210     1674 167     1684 155     1694 115
1605 94     1615 155     1625 157     1635 180     1645   8       1655 96
     1665 130     1675 179     1685 139     1695 159
1606 110   1616 178     1626 171     1636 221     1646  17      1656 190
 1666  92      1676 154     1686 161     1696 137
1607 148   1617 163     1627 158     1637 165     1647 52       1657 131
 1667 72       1677 133     1687 126     1697 119
1608 129   1618 171     1628 160     1638 193     1648 43       1658 151
 1668 119     1678 133     1688  95      1698 135
1609 121   1619 153     1629 204     1639 161     1649 58       1659 84
   1669 113     1679  75      1689  62      1699 171

Very few English bells must have been cast during the civil war, and very
few English bells of this period have survived but the numbers seem to have
recovered well before the end of the Commonwealth period. Numbers did not
suffer so badly in the 1688-92 period.

David Sloman

On Tue, Dec 29, 2020 at 11:42 AM Richard Smith <richard at ex-parrot.com>
wrote:

> Cathryn Corns wrote:
>
> > There was widespread economic depression after the
> > Napoleonic wars which led to a downturn in many
> > industries, which may have contributed to the decline in
> > the 1830s.  This was particularly marked in rural areas.
>
> The post-Napoleonic depression occurred to me too, but I'm
> struggling to fit it to the figures.
>
> The French Revolution lull in surviving bells is the least
> pronounced of the six.  There is a marked decline in 1794,
> and levels stay low until 1802.  Britain was at war with
> France from February 1793, but we'd expect it to take some
> time until it affected foundry output, which could explain
> why it was only in 1794 that output seemingly dropped.
> March 1802 was when the Treaty of Amiens was signed,
> bringing a temporary period of respite between the earlier
> French Revolutionary Wars and the later Napoleonic Wars, and
> it explains the recovery in surviving bells.
>
> Recovery was incomplete, and the whole period from 1793 to
> 1818 left us with a below average number of surviving bells;
> neverless, it was the earlier French Revolution Wars that
> had the more pronounced effect that the later Napoleonic
> Wars.  Between 1816 to 1818 there is another pronounced low,
> which could well be due to the post-Napoleonic depression,
> but it not a long enough or deep enough lull to be certain
> it is a real effect rather than statistical noise.
>
> My understanding is that that the economy had largely
> recovered by the early 1820s.  This is consistent with
> period from 1821 to 1826 having the highest level of
> surviving bells since the 1720s and until surviving output
> really starts to accelerate in the 1860s, no doubt driven in
> part by Victorian church building (in turn driven by
> population growth and urbanisation), the Oxford movement and
> belfry reform.  The 1820s peak may well be result of many
> projects which were delayed during the Napoleonic period
> coming to fruition at around the same time.
>
> But then things drop again.  1829 to 1831 are back to the
> baseline level we see throughout the 18th and 19th century,
> and then the surviving output drops to around half this
> level in 1832 where it stays until 1838, and by 1840 it is
> back to the status quo ante.  It's not a gradual decline and
> recovery, as you might expet from general economic
> considerations.  If I had no knowledge of English history, I
> would assume there was a major war between about 1832 and
> 1838.
>
> It's interesting to compare the 1830s low to the earlier
> lows of the 17th century, both of which took a decade or
> more to recover fully.  In the first case, following the
> Civil War, it may well be indicative of the effect of the
> puritans during the Commonwealth.  It's the established view
> that the Commonwealth had little effect on bellfounding, but
> perhaps this is something of a simplification; or perhaps
> disruption to the industry had been so widespread during the
> Civil War that the industry needed a decade to re-establish
> itself.  Whichever is the case, it is marked contrast to the
> four lulls in the 19th and 20th centuries.
>
> RAS
>
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