The van Aerschodt family of Leuven, Belgium were one of the most significant founders of bells in the low countries in the latter part of the 19th century. They cast 25 carillons comprising almost 900 bells, extended several others, and cast at least 24 bells weighing 3 tonnes or more, including the 8.3 tonne Salvator at Mechelen and 8.1 tonne Pia at Liege. For the UK they provided four ringing peals, three of which survive; four carillons, one of which survives; and a number of chimes and single bells.
Fate has not been kind to the van Aerschodts and many of their bells are lost. In part this is due to the devastation of war, but their bells were often out of tune and have been replaced or retuned. However, their bigger bells have a fine tone. All their castings are very high quality with many decorative features.
The vanden Gheyn and van Aerschodt families
The first recorded bellfounder in the family was Willem vanden Gheyn (1450-1533) who established bellfoundry in Mechelen in 1506. The business was carried on over many generations, initially in Mechelen. A significant bell weighing many tonnes cast by Peter vanden Gheyn in 1638 was Salvator which hung in Saint Rombouts Cathedral in Mechelen.
In the early 18th century the family moved to Leuven to cast a carillon for St Peter’s church. Andreas Jozef vanden Gheyn (1727-1793) cast at least 23 carillons and was renowned for the musical quality of his bells, rivalling those of the Hemony brothers from a hundred years before. Andreas Jozef was often brought in to fix problems in carillons cast by other founders, either by tuning or recasting their bells.
The last van den Gheyn bellfounder, Andreas Lodewijk (1758-1833), had no surviving sons. His daughter Anna Maximiliana married Thomas Guillaume van Aerschodt, and their two sons Andreas Lodewijk van Aerschodt (1814-1888) and Severin van Aerschodt (1819-1885) took over the bellfounding business. Initially they worked together, but in 1851 Severin set up his own foundry in Leuven. Andreas’ largest bell was his recasting of Salvator at Mechelen in 1844. This bell, cast by his 5x great-grandfather two centuries before, had cracked after an attempt to tune it and installation of a bigger clapper.
Severin’s son Felix (1870-1943) continued the bellfounding business until at least 1931. His grandson Paul-Félix Vernimmen has the foundry books, strickles and tuning forks from the van Aerschodt foundry and has helped considerably with research into the work of his ancestors.
Andreas and Severin’s sister Reine Barbe married Pierre Sergeys (1827-1912) and their descendants Constant, Francois and Jacques ran bellfoundries, initially in Liege but from 1927 in Leuven. The Sergeys continued in the bell trade until 1980, though founding was latterly sub-contracted to Eijsbouts. Closure of the Sergeys foundry ended almost 500 years of bellfounding by Matthias vanden Gheyn and his descendents.
Other pages on this site about the van Aerschodts include:
Two van Aerschodt carillons – Eaton Hall, Cheshire and Holy Trinity, Philadelphia, USA.
Simpson, van Aerschodt and Lower Beeding – the influence of van Aerschodt bells on Canon Simpson’s work.
The musical quality of van Aerschodt bells – a comparison with UK bells of the 18th and 19 centuries.
The Van Aerschodts of Louvain – a paper written by Paul-Félix Vernimmen giving the history of the family and their foundries.