The first bell founders would have come from the Lorraine region. They did not have a fixed foundry as no one had found a way to transport the bells once cast. The founders were itinerant and settled at the feet of the church for which they were supposed to work. The villagers brought pots, old pennies, pewter pots, and candlesticks, but also cartloads of clay, wax, and hemp or goat hair. During the Middle Ages, a new bell was usually blessed seven times by the bishop. The Fonderie Cornille-Havard was established in 1865 in Villedieu-les-Poêles in Normandy.