[Bell Historians] Canewdon John Waylett bell.

[David Sloman]

John Waylett cast the old tenor at Walthamstow St. Mary in 1727. The churchwardens accounts describe him as "of Windmill Hill".

He seems to have taken over the Wightman/ Bagley foundry after the unfortunate demise of Matthew Bagley.

DS


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: David Cawley 
  To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 4:55 PM
  Subject: Re: [Bell Historians] Canewdon John Waylett bell.



  Interesting that Richard mentions Canterbury Cathedral, as the original back eight of the former bells were cast in 1726 by Samuell Knight, who was working with John Waylett in Kent at the time. Waylett's Kent bells range from 1717 to 1727, but there is I think no record of his being involved in the Canterbury job, either the eight bells cast in 1726, of which three still exist in the NW tower, or the two required to be recast in 1727 and 1728. Nor was he involved in the transfer of the previous six SW tower bells to Sandwich in 1727, which included recasting the tenor at the same site as Chapman was to use so successfully, as Richard says, for Great Dunstan in 1762. 
  I have found bells with Waylett's own name alone in company with others of the same date with his initials or name along with those of Knight. It may be that Knight's output, pretty impressive for the time, required the assistance of the highly itinerant Waylett to get it all finished. Whether or not Waylett learned his trade from Knight I don't know, certainly the style of the two is quite individual and many of their bells have responded well to modern tuning.
  There is a chime of sixteen small bells, largest 14 or 15 inches diameter, thirteen of them by John Waylett, at the Old Tolbooth in Stirling, the two largest only being inscribed and dated 1729. RWMC quotes Walters in saying that Waylett was working in London at the time. Did Waylett make the journey, one wonders: in the event he was paid L36 for the "thirteen bells ... being to come from London." His other peregrinations suggest that he might have enjoyed the journey. 
  Congratulations to Canewdon on their forthcoming restoration - one of the longest-standing of all unringables.

  DLC 
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Richard Offen 
    To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com 
    Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 3:18 PM
    Subject: RE: [Bell Historians] Canewdon John Waylett bell.



    Have you looked through your churchwarden’s accounts to see if there are any references to the casting of this bell?   


    If the accounts survive, they may contain a list of materials that the bell founder had sourced locally: bricks for a temporary furnace, etc.    


    Hard as it may be for us to imagine these days, it was quite common place for itinerant bell founders to a temporary bell foundry close to the church for which they had been contracted to cast a bell.   William Chapman set up a furnace and casting pit in the precincts of Canterbury Cathedral in 1762 and cast a three ton bell for the Cathedral …imagine the health and safety  risk assessment document you’d have to write to do that today!


    Richard



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    From: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com [mailto:bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Brian Meldon
    Sent: Monday, 12 May 2008 9:15 PM
    To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com
    Subject: [Bell Historians] Canewdon John Waylett bell.


    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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