A month or so ago, I was asked to write a piece about the Bell Foundry as background to Adam Dant’s very beautiful drawing which shows the way in which bells from the Bell Foundry were sent round the world: from Nova Scotia to Barbados; and from St. Petersburg to Sydney; whilst at the same time providing most of the bells for the City churches – not just St. Paul’s, but St. James Garlickhythe and St. Mary-le-Bow. In many ways, Dant’s illustration needs no accompanying text: it tells the whole story graphically. But it gave me an opportunity to review the sorry saga of Historic England choosing not to support its preservation, but instead to lend its support to its bastardisation as a hotel, a shameful episode in preservation history:-

https://thecritic.co.uk/battle-of-the-bells-and-the-boutique-hotel/