The Cornille-Havard foundry is heir to a long tradition of bell casters established in Villedieu-les-Poêles, Normandy, dating back to the late Middle Ages. When Adolphe Havard, an engineer trained at the ‘Ecole Polytechnique’, took over his father Paul’s business, he built a foundry workshop. He thus cemented the bell casting business. In 1903, Adolphe Havard joined forces with his son-in-law Léon Cornille: a year later, Léon became director of the foundry, which as a result was renamed Cornille-Havard.