What's in a name?

Silver Street in the Northamptonshire village of Chacombe, was once the workplace of a Bell Founders established around 1630 by one William Badley  who died in 1684 and is buried in the local parish church. His sons Henry Jnr and William carried on the tradition but are believed to have moved in the early years of the 18thC to Witney..

Only the name now exists to mark his heritage. Why silver? Because it was a common belief at the time that the bells would ring that little bit sweeter if they contained a small amount of silver in the casting. This was usually some form of ornament donated by the wife of the benefactor.

The assumption was that that not all the silver donated actually went into the bells so that bell founders were considered wealthy men!