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Tellin (Municipality, Province of Luxembourg, Belgium)

Flag of Tellin - Image by Ivan Sache, 29 March 2016

Presentation of Tellin
Flag of Tellin

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Presentation of Tellin

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.
[La Libre Belgique, 9 October 2007; La fonderie Causard/Dury à Colmar]

Ivan Sache, 25 November 2007

Flag of Tellin

The flag and arms of Tellin, adopted on 23 September 2014 by the Municipal Council, after validation on 16 May 2014 by the Heraldry and Vexillology Council of the French Community, is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 10 December 2014 by the Executive of the French Community and published on 23 February 2015 in the Belgian official gazette, No. 52 (text), pp. 14,085-14,090.
The symbols are described as follows:

Flag: White a blue lion crowned in yellow surmounted by a red reversed chevron embowed charged at hoist with a posthorn and at fly with a bell, all yellow.
Coat of arms: Per chevron reversed embowed gules a posthorn or a bell of the same and argent a lion azure crowned or.

The symbols were proposed by the Heraldry and Vexillology Council of the French Community; the Municipal Council initiated the registration procedure on 21 April 2009 and first approved the proposed symbols on 29 April 2014, with the following explanation:
The posthorn, placed dexter, recalls a post house whose district encompassed a hundred of villages.
The bell, placed sinister, recalls the bell foundry established in the 19th century.
The lion recalls the arms of the ancient lords of Tellin. While the lion is not necessarily shown azure in the old arms of the village, azure was selected for the modern arms to represent Luxembourg; accordingly, the arms of Tellin feature the colours of Liège (or and gules), Bouillon (gules and argent), and Luxembourg (gules, argent and azure).
[Minutes of the Municipal Council, 29 April 2014]

Ivan Sache & Pascal Vagnat, 29 March 2016