Mono Monday WAYSIDE - MM121

The theme for this week's Mono Monday is WAYSIDE, something by the side of the road/lane/track/path that catches your eye. Thanks for all the lovely entries, I'll be announcing hearts on Wednesday or Thursday. Don't forget the tag mm121.

We pass this old pump so often that it's become part of scenery. Of course before I started blipping it was ignored mostly because it used to be covered in brambles and ivy. Back in March 2015 when I blipped it for Derelict Thursday I discovered from researching online that it was manufactured by John Warner & Sons of Cripplegate London, Brass and Bell Founders to Her Majesty.

John Warner & Sons were a family business established in 1763 with a continuous history of over two centuries. Warners cast bells for churches and Cathedrals across the world but they are also an integral part of the story of the Great Clock at Westminster and the largest bell ever cast in Britain at that time. They had a number of foundries at different locations in what was then called “the workshop of the world;” London. These sites included Cheapside, Cripplegate, Spitalfields and Fleet Street but the original hour bell for the Great Clock was cast at Stockton-on-Tees in 1856. The daunting task of not only casting a 16 ton bell but then transporting it to London created great publicity for the company which they exploited for years despite the fact that it cracked outside Westminster whilst being tested.
There were a number of factors resulting in the breaking of the bell; too heavy a hammer, a new mixture of bell metal, a new shape and the sheer size. However the broken bell was then recast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and finally installed in 1859 only to crack again after two months. The crack was cleverly repaired but Big Ben still has a slightly fluffy tone, which makes it so distinct.