The strickle
A board with a bell cut in it.
Every bell begins as a shape swept in loam. A strickle board, cut to the bell's inside profile, is turned round a spindle until the core stands true. Our boards are oak, and older than most of the staff.
Bell founders Loughborough, since 1862
Cast once.
Heard for centuries.
Church, ship and hand bells, poured in bronze at our family foundry on the Soar. Scroll down and we will cast one for you.
Scroll to light the furnace
01 Pattern and mould
Pattern and mould
The cope
A second shell goes over.
The outside of the bell is a thick shell of loam, the cope, dried hard and lowered over the core on the crane. The gap left between the two is the bell, to the nearest millimetre.
Hooped and buried
Iron first, then sand.
Iron hoops are fitted red hot and shrink tight as they cool. Then the whole mould is rammed with sand to the shoulders, because the metal will push hard on its way in.
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02 The melt
The melt
Copper and tin
Seventy-eight and twenty-two.
Bell metal is about four parts copper to one of tin. The copper goes in first and slumps into a glowing bath. Too much tin and a bell cracks; too little and it sounds dull as a saucepan.
The fire
Hotter than it looks.
Coke and a hand-cranked blower take the crucible past 1,100 degrees. The tin goes in last, or it would burn away. It lands with a hiss and a shower of sparks.
Skimmed and ready
Clean metal, bright as sun.
When the surface runs clear of dross and shines pale gold, the foreman skims it, tests it and calls the pour. Nobody speaks for the next ten minutes.
Charging copper960°C
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03 The pour
The pour
The lift
Seven hundred kilos on a chain.
The crucible is hooked on, lifted out of the furnace and carried across the floor by the overhead crane. It swings a little. Everyone steps back.
The pour
One steady stream.
The lip tips and the bronze runs into the cup in a single unbroken line, and the mould drinks it. If the stream breaks, the bell is lost, so the pourer's hand does not shake.
Brim
Small flames at the vents.
As the metal reaches the cup, gas burns off at the vents in little gold flames. That is the sign the mould is full. The crucible goes back to the fire and the foundry goes quiet.
Metal run0/ 640 kg
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04 Cooling and tuning
Cooling and tuning
Days in the dark
Patience, in the sand.
A bell cools in its mould for days. Pull it early and the metal cracks. Through the open side of our mould you can watch it go from white to orange to the colour of an old penny.
Breaking out
The mould crumbles away.
Then the loam is broken off with bars and hammers, and the bell is seen for the first time: black with scale, rough as bark and still too hot to touch.
The lift
Out of the pit, swinging.
The crane hooks the cannons on the crown and lifts the bell clear of the sand. It swings like a slow pendulum and we let it, because stopping it with a hand is how fingers are lost.
Tuning
Turned to the note.
On the tuning lathe we shave metal from inside the bell, a few thousandths at a time, until five partials agree. A bell is only right when all five are.
- Hum+14
- Prime-9
- Tierce+22
- Quint-17
- Nominal+11
Day11,050 °C
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05 The first strike
The first strike
Hung true
In the oak.
The bell is bolted to its headstock and swung into an oak frame. Bearings, a leather-faced hammer and nothing else: no electronics, no shortcuts.
The first strike
Now it speaks.
The hammer falls on the sound bow. The whole bell flexes, a ring of ripples runs up the waist and five notes sound at once. Switch the sound on to hear it, with the forge still humming underneath.
The ring-down
Still humming after a count of ten.
A good bell keeps singing long after the blow. If you can still hear it after ten seconds, it was cast well. In a quiet tower ours ring on for the best part of a minute.
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06 Your turn
Choose a bell.
Hear it ring.
A ring of seven, tuned to G major. Pick one and the casting reshapes on the spot: smaller, brighter, higher. Then strike it, or click the bell itself.
Bell
- Note
- G3
- Strike
- 196 Hz
- Across
- 1,090 mm
- Weight
- 12.5 cwt
The tenor is the deepest bell in the ring and the last to speak. It anchors everything above it.
Drag the scene to turn it
07 What we make
Four ways to put a bell in the world.
from £4,850
New bells and rings
A single bell, a pair, or a full ring cast to the note you choose. Inscribed with your wording. A ring of six starts at £61,000.
Five months, enquiry to peal
from £9,200 a bell
Tower refits
New headstocks, bearings and oak or steel frames for a tower that has gone quiet. A survey of your tower is £380, refunded if you commission.
We rehang 14 rings a year
from £2,450
Handbell sets
Eight bells, thirteen bells or a full two octaves, cast in bronze and tuned to within two cents. Handles in ash, leather or brass.
Eight bells, from £2,450
£96 a person
Foundry days
Ten thirty to three thirty: mould-making, a tuning demonstration and lunch by the furnace. Pour days, first Saturday of the month, are £145.
Small groups, up to eight
Ship's, school and harbour bells are cast to order from £680, engraved free.
08 The small print
One metal, no shortcuts.
- First pour
- 0
- five generations of Hallams at the same site
- Pour temperature
- 0°C
- measured twice, then once more
- Copper in the metal
- 0%
- the rest is tin, give or take a whisper
- Bells now ringing
- 0
- in towers, harbours and school yards
09 Visit
Book a foundry day.
Mould-making, a tuning demonstration, and the sound of a freshly cast bell in an empty hall. Wear boots; the floor is sand and it is warm.
Thank you. We will check the diary and write back within two working days. Wear boots.
- Foundry
- 14 Soar Meadow Works
Loughborough, Leicestershire - Telephone
- 01509 555 014
- bells@hallambell.example
- Hours
- Mon to Fri, 8 until 5
Pour days, first Saturday