Today, we visited the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. It is Britain’s oldest manufacturing company. The foundry began making bells in 1570. They make giant bells and smaller handbells. Big Ben was made here.

Today, we met Mark Backhouse who showed us around the foundry. When we visited it was very busy. There were a lot of different things to see. We had to be very careful not to bump into anything.

We got to see how bells are made. It starts by making a mold for the bell out of loam. Mark let Jackie mix some up in her hands. Loam is a very important part in making a bell, but the ingredients are a bit gross.

We were very lucky and got to see some bells being poured. They do not do this every day. The liquid metal glowed and sparked as it was poured into the mold. It was a bit scary to be so close to hot metal. Very few people get to see this because it is dangerous. I am glad we filmed this for you to see up close.

Awe-struck,

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

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