The Cornille-Havard foundry is heir to a long tradition of bell casters who have been established in Villedieu-les-Poêles, Normandy, since the end of the Middle Ages. Until the middle of the 19th century, church-bell casters (or ‘maîtres saintiers’) were itinerant as they travelled right to the foot of churches and cathedrals where they would cast their bells. The foundry’s workshop has hardly changed since its construction in 1865. One remains astonished by the simplicity of the tools used to produce these marvels. All lies in the ancestral gestures and the expertise of the master casters.