Heritage Enterprise
Our support has helped save Taylor's Bellfoundry from closure, ensuring its legacy can continue. Loughborough Bellfoundry Trust protected and enhanced the Grade II* listed factory buildings, which date from 1859 and were added to Historic England’s Heritage At Risk register.
Taylor’s can now continue the centuries-old craft of casting and repairing bells using traditional skills and techniques. The project recruited and trained an apprentice, and conservation workshops shared best practice on the care of bells and bell-towers.
The museum’s transformation includes an accessible multi-function activity room, while the site’s historic entrance has been restored and landscaped. The reconfigured archive spaces now better house the archive of records dating back to 1744 and include a space available for hire.
Getting people interested in bells has been important to the project’s legacy. Over 50 volunteers have been involved, from oral history and archive training to delivering tours, capturing photography and exhibition management. Three Kids in Museums takeover days engaged young people with bell-making heritage and local primary schools competed in a handbell design competition.
Andrew Wilby, Trustee of Loughborough Bellfoundry Trust, said: “Our aim to restore, enhance and protect the bellfoundry is now complete. And not only is it safe and secure – we now have a modern and engaging new museum which will pass on the history, importance and the magic of this place to people of all ages for many years to come.”
Loughborough Bellfoundry Trust won three awards at the Leicestershire & Rutland Heritage Awards 2023, including Working with Children and Young People and Protecting Heritage.
