I have stopped commenting recently on the fate of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry because I thought there was nothing left to say as we await with trepidation the decision of Tower Hamlets planning committee, now delayed, apparently because of the discovery of Roman remains under the Foundry. But out of the blue, the Daily Mail […]

Well, well, the hearing of the planning application for the development of the Bell Foundry which was due to take place on 30th. July in a fortnight’s time has been postponed. Let’s hope this is good news: that Tower Hamlets has realised that a catastrophe has been due to take place and the historic fabric […]

I am learning from the amazing amount of traffic on my twitter account how much the Whitechapel Bell Foundry means to people: not just as a set of historic buildings, but because it represents such a strong sense of historic continuity, which has now been ruptured. Much the most popular tweet came from someone who […]

I have been fascinated by the extraordinary amount of ill feeling which has been generated by the decision of Historic England to throw in its lot with the plans of a New York venture capitalist to turn the Bell Foundry into an ersatz hotel, rather than help and support the plans of the United Kingdom […]

Duncan Wilson, the Chief executive of Historic England, has written a carefully considered response to the Times to the letter which Dan Cruickshank and I wrote on Friday. For those who don’t have access to the Times, I am re-publishing it here:- Sir, The proposals for the Whitechapel Bell Foundry (letter, Jul 12) have been […]

I have been asked by several people if anything can be done to save the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. The answer is as follows:- 1. The Gentle Author, who writes the blog Spitalfields Life, has established a website, Save the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, which includes all the relevant information about how to object to the planning […]

There has been an unprecedented amount of traffic on my Twitter account this morning following the publication yesterday of a letter that Dan Cruickshank and I wrote to the Times about the failure of the heritage authorities to work effectively together to save the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. As readers of this blog will know, Historic […]

We were tipped off that a concert was being held in the big industrial space added to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in the late 1970s after the then GLC historic buildings division had intervened to prevent development of the site on the grounds that it was such ‘a unique and important living industry where crafts […]

The discovery that Tower Hamlets is holding the hearing on July 30th. as to whether or not Raycliff Capital, a New York-based venture capitalist, should be allowed to convert the historic fabric of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry into a boutique hotel concentrates the mind. The big problem is that Historic England supports the Raycliff proposal […]

I nipped down to the Whitechapel Idea Store to acquire a copy of the pamphlet produced by the Survey of London, just in time to document its long and fascinating history before it is turned into a kitsch hotel. Its origins go back to the 1570s when Robert Doddes started making church bells in a […]