Lantern clock
Peter Closon (b. c.1594)
Category
Horology
Date
1615
Materials
Oak, lead, steel and brass
Measurements
385 x 155 x 175 mm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Beningbrough Hall, North Yorkshire
NT 1190965
Summary
30 hour hour-striking brass lantern clock signed Peter Closon, London, c.1650 and later. Traditional, brass posted frame construction movement with count wheel hour striking on the bell on top of the frame and with crown wheel verge escapement with short bob pendulum. A single lead weight drives the clock, suspended on a turned oak pulley on a Huygens-type endless chain, with small lead counter weight. Brass side doors, and a fixed brass panel on the back, protect the movement from dust. The 6” diameter, engraved, silvered-brass chapter ring has simple roman numerals and a quarter hour circle. Engraved brass dial centre and single iron hour hand. The brass case is of the usual style dating from the mid-seventeenth century, with scrolling frets above the upper plate of the movement, the front fret engraved and signed: “Peter Closon at London Neare Hoborn Bridge fecit”. Note; The clock was originally designed to be driven by two separate weights and was controlled by a balance wheel. It has been converted to Huygens endless chain and crown wheel verge escapement with bob pendulum, probably in the late eighteenth century. The clock probably also originally had an iron back panel, with fitted spurs on the back to steady the clock when hanging from an iron loop, also now missing but originally riveted to the upper plate of the movement. The iron back would also have had suspended on it an alarm mechanism, and the dial would probably have had a silvered brass alarm disc under the hour hand at the dial centre. The clock also appears to have been extensively restored in the 20th century, probably including the fitting of the present frets and the engraving of the dial centre.
Provenance
Bequest from Lady Megaw to Beningbrough Hall in 1974.
Makers and roles
Peter Closon (b. c.1594), maker