[Bell Historians] Canewdon John Waylett bell.

[Philip Denton]

There is a chapter on John Waylett, together with a list of all his known bells, in Joyce Dodds' book 'Hertfordshire Bellfounders', published in 2003. I think it is still in print - I have seen new copies in Hertfordshire bookshops fairly recently.
   
  According to this source, the earliest known Waylett bell was at Stanford le Hope, dated 1703, but now recast. His oldest surviving dated bell in the 3rd of 8 at Romford, dated 1704.
   
  His latest surviving dated bell is the tenor of 10 at Bishop's Stortford, dated 1730; a 1731 bell at Felsted has been recast. A bell of 1742 in Welwyn Garden City might be by him.
   
  Until 1714, Waylett seems to have worked in Hertfordshire, with a few journeys into Essex, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. After that date, he seems to have become a semi-itinerant, alternating between several months in Kent or Sussex and a similar length of time in Hertfordshire. He then seems to have settled in London from 1727.
   
  There is no indication in Joyce Dodds' list of where the Canewdon bell might have been cast, but as it is listed chronologically between the Paglesham bell and the three at Little Wakering, all in the same locality, it is perhaps tempting to think they might have been cast locally.
   
  Several pre C19 bell founders worked partly or exclusively as itinerants, in different parts of the country. Other contributors would make a better job than me of explaining how they sometimes managed to produce some quite decent bells!
   
  Philip.

 Meldon <CanewdonBells at k-taPRDLo4V_GWxAzVMVl4pIilr--dxq9uMeHOW2xIHEnnEgay7k8OhsLWcFHFmkMTT4dlkFYbdsSrZX0kfVOfZJflw.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
          The cracked Canewdon treble, 3rd and tenor bells were taken down and
sent away for repair last Thursday, 8th May, by the Whitechapel Bell
Foundry.
One of them, the 1707 John Waylett tenor, was possibly cast locally.
It would be nice if we could be more certain about this for our
records. This is the bell with the wonderfully spelt name `WETHR
IENNENS' on the inscription band.
John Waylett cast 4 or possibly 5 bells in the Rochford area of Essex
in 1707, Pagelsham's tenor (in `about 1706'), Little Wakering treble,
2nd and tenor and our Canewdon tenor, amazingly all still survive today.
What local facilities would have been required for him to cast these
bells? In Canewdon there was a forge in the blacksmiths shop for
example, would this had been an option? 
There is also an interesting local and apparently factual, tale about
our tenor being upturned outside the Anchor pub and filled with ale
when new in 1707.(I don't think we will be repeating that event this
time!)The Anchor is opposite the old forge site and at the far end of
the village from the church. The bell would have to have been taken
past the road to the church to reach the pub if it had been delivered
overland. Having now seen bells being cast at Whitechapel, casting a
bell locally would be quite an achievement even today never mind 300
years ago.
I know that John Waylett was based in Bishop's Stortford and it is
thought that he was associated with John Thornton of Sudbury who took
over the foundry there in 1708 after Henry Pleasant had died in 1707.
He is also thought to have been using a foundry in Royston in 1707 as
well. But all these locations would have been a very long way to
transport a bell in 1707.
It is almost certain that we will not be able to find a definitive
answer as to where our Waylett bell was cast, but it is worth a try.

Brian Meldon



                           

       
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