Last modified: 2008-04-26 by ivan sache
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The municipality of Tellin (2,386 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 5,664 ha) is located on the border with the Province of Namur. The municipality of Tellin is made since 1976 of the former municipalities of Tellin, Bure, Grupont and Resteigne.
Tellin is known as "The Bell's Village", thanks to the bell foundery of
Val des Cloches (lit., the Bells' Valley), active from 1832 to 1970
and succeeded in 1988 by the Campa factory (providing but no longer
founding bells, though).
In 1832, the French bell founder Charles Causard, from Bassigny
(Haute-Marne), made a 806.75-pounds bell for the church of Tellin. Once itinerant, Causard settled in Tellin and transformed a former ironworks into a bell foundry. Charles Causard was succeeded by his son Firmin
Causard (1839-1897), who started his career in Tellin with his father
and brothers and then managed the Causard foundries in Colmar (set up in 1871) and Strasbourg (set up in 1892). Until 1897, the Causard company made 1,236 bells (including 507 in Belgium, 52 in Luxembourg, 5 in the Netherlands, 355 in Alsace-Lorraine, 17 in Germany, 250 in France and 32 in Switzerland). The Causard bells were also exported to Canada and Congo.
Firmin's brother, Adrien Causard (1841-1900), managed the foundry of
Diekirch (Luxembourg), set up by his father in 1864, and came back in
Tellin after Firmin's death to manage the family foundry, together with
his brother Jean-Baptiste. In 1897, he was the very successful manager
of the Causard foundries in Tellin, Colmar, Strabsourg and Anhée (set up in 1885) on behalf of his ill brother Hippolyte).
Adrien was succeeded by his two nieces, Sidonie and Marie, Hippolyte's
daughter, who jointly managed the foundry of Tellin for a short period.
The sole owner of the Tellin foundry on 1 July 1900, Marie Causard
married in 190 Georges Slégers and taught him bell foundry. After the
Second World War, Georges' third son, Georges II, back from Germany,
managed the foundry until his death in 1970. The company was then very
busy since several church bells stolen by the Germans during the war
had to be replaced.
Slégers' children obtained the registration of the foundry as an
historical monument in 1994.
In 1989, after a visit of King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola to the
ancient foundry and the Campa factory, it was decided to set up the
Bell and Peel's Museum (Musée de la Cloche et du Carillon) in Tellin, with the support of Campa, owner of several pieces and machines from the former foundry. The museum shows bells, bell clocks (the oldest,
still working, dating back to 1634), and a unique collection of 85
weather cocks.
Sources:
Ivan Sache, 25 November 2007
According to Armoiries communales en Belgique. Communes wallonnes, bruxelloises et germanophones, there is no municipal flag used in Tellin.
Pascal Vagnat, 25 November 2007