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The Whitechapel Bell Foundry which opened in Queen Elizabeth I’s era and made Big Ben is up for sale.
The Foundry opened in 1570 and was Britain’s oldest manufacturing company.
Up until 2016, it was owned by Alan Hughes, whose family bought the Foundry in 1904. But he sold it to an American property developer. The developer was initially going to convert the Foundry into a hotel but plans were abandoned and it is up for sale again.
In its time, the Foundry has made numerous famous bells including the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia which summoned the city’s residents to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The Foundry also cast the bells for Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, and numerous other cathedrals across the country.
Campaigners to save the Foundry from being sold are hoping to acquire the building and reopen it as a fully-working foundry.