[Bell Historians] The end of the Eldridge foundry

[David Bryant]

> - a small point, but how likely is a foundry to 'just close'? I can well imagine a scenario where there is no formal takeover, but surely anyone going out of business would try to get what they could for their assets? As a more recent example, didn't Whitechapel buy the tuning kit from G+J?
> 
> A sale of assets could see them dispersed throughout the trade, but I can also imagine one foundry buying out so many assets that to all practical intents a takeover occurred.

I think it's important to remember that pre-industrial bellfounders were in essence small-scale artisans, and would not have had many items of equipment which would be worth much. They did not have tuning machines or casting cases; strickles probably wouldn't have been wanted by other founders as all had their own profiles. Stocks of metal would probably have been their most valuable possession, allong with the goodwill of the foundry.

Incidentally, what happened to Warner's bell production equipment when the foundry closed?

David

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