Church bells made in Buckingham can be found as far as Bedford and Thame, but no one is sure exactly where they were made.
Our best guess in that this area next the river was used. In the 1500s, bells were cast in the ground, which left little evidence behind. However, a hundred years ago, part of a canon of a bell was found here, and it matches with possible locations marked on Speed’s 1610 map of Buckingham.
John Aphowell, is the first recorded ‘belfounder’ in Buckingham, and popped up regularly in local records for owing or being owed money. A fact that did not stop him from becoming Bailiff (Mayor) of the Borough of Buckingham three times! The business continued after John’s death when Bartholomew Atton took over.
‘Bartholomew Atton made me’.
Inscription on Bartholomew Atton bell made for King’s Sutton Church in 1602.