John Taylor’s bellfoundry is Britains last remaining large scale bell foundry. The building is over 160 years old with over 25,000 bells having been cast since 1859, with weights of up to 15 tonnes made from molten iron. It is on the brink of closure.

Bells have been produced for Liverpool Cathedral with ‘Great George’ bell cast in 1940 at around 15 tonnes, St Paul’s Cathedral – London, Washington National Cathedral in the USA, the National Carillion in Canberra, Australia and Cape Town City Hall in South Africa. Bells were also made for HMS Queen Elizabeth in 1938.

Funding is needed to repair and restore the bellfoundry’s buildings, onsite museum and equipment as well as becoming the centre for bell research, development and manufacturing. A lottery heritage grant has been approved to save the foundry’s grade II listed buildings.

A full restoration is proposed and Survey Operations were commissionsed to undertake a full 3D Laser Scanning survey to record all features to aid the complex restoration process.

Using the latest Leica scan station equipment and techniques, all intricate building features have been scanned and data collected to create a 3D model of the complete site buildings. All historical features have been recorded to aid the detailed restoration.