History

Bellfoundry Petit & Fritsen is the on two after oldest family owned business in the Netherlands.

Around 1690 Nicolas Jullien, a descendant of an old bellfounders family, came to the Netherlands with his sons Alexius and Joseph. He established himself in Weert. 
Nicolas had a sister named Marie who was married to a surgeon by the name of Jean François Petit. Marie died in 1703, when Nicolas took the orphaned children to Weert. There they learned the bell casting trade from their Uncle Alexius.
Of the Petit children, Jean Petit moved to Helmond in 1720 and his brother Joseph settled in Someren. Alexius, the son of Joseph moved to Aarle-Rixtel in 1787 with his three sons Henricus, Everardus and Alexius Jr. Jospeh’s daughter Aldegonda married a man named Izaac Fritsen. Henricus was the last Petit to stop bell casting in 1815 . The foundry was then continued by Henricus Fritsen, the son of Aldegonda Petit and Izaac Fritsen. 
Since that time the bellfounfry has been called Petit & Fritsen.

Officially the bellfoundry dates back to 1660, confirming that the Bellfoundry Petit & Fritsen is the third oldest family owned business in The Netherlands.

Since 1907 the Petit & Fritsen Bellfoundry has been located in its monumental building at Klokkengietersstraat 1 (Bellfounders Street 1) in Aarle-Rixtel.
In 2014 the bellfoundry merged with Royal Eijsbouts b.v.