The Whitechapel Bell Foundry has been around for ages. In fact, it was established in 1570 and is Britain's oldest manufacturing company. Given its long history it came as no surprise that it's responsible for some of the world's most famous bells, like Big Ben and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.

Quite honestly I didn't know what to expect today. Not knowing anything about the process or what exactly we would be filming, we arrived with a very loose plan of what we would do and decided to just "wing it".

After getting our visitors badges, we were met by the foundry manager, Mark Backhouse. Jenny shook his hand and he rather humorously joked that she should check a person's hands before she is willing to shake. Later, we found out that Mark had remnants of loam on his hands and let's just say it's not particularly pleasant!

Mark took us through the entire factory. I could tell he had given his fair share of tours.

There were many different rooms in the foundry with craftsmen skilled at specific tasks. One room was devoted to making bell molds, while several smaller rooms attended to tuning and finishing hand bells. In the tuning room, we met a man who had perfect pitch. I decided to test the claim and struck one of the bells. Eyes closed and back turned (no cheating) he listened to the note and modestly said "B". Sure enough, I had played a "B". Very impressive!

Toward the end of the day, we got to see how some of the larger bells, or church bells, are made. This is a long process that takes place over a number of days. With just one day alloted to filming at the foundry, we were only able to see the bells being poured, but I think this was the most exciting part. What impressed me most is that almost everything is done by sheer muscle power and teamwork; the process really has not changed much since Elizabethan times.

Several masked men worked to pour molten metal into six large bell molds. Jenny stood on a platform very close to the process so that she could get some great film shots of the glowing red/yellow liquid being poured, which is about 2000 degrees F. Later, Jenny admitted that at moments she was slightly terrified as the molten metal sparked and glowed, but it was well worth it as you will see.  

Your fearless explorer,

Part 1: Making Loam and Building the Mold	Part 2: Pouring and Tuning the Bells

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