Turret clock
Category
Horology
Date
1730
Materials
Brass, Iron, Rope
Measurements
430 x 540 x 360 mm
Order this imageCollection
Snowshill Manor and Garden, Gloucestershire
NT 1342545.1
Summary
Turret clock in iron frame c.1730, mounted on a modern wooden frame. Arch top engraved brass plate signed 'Samuel Hart, Stoneham' probably does not belong. Anchor escapement hour striking movement in iron frame, brass wheels. Has two rope drums (with modern sash cord), ropes attached to two external pulleys with hooks for weights. Repairs made in 1982, fitted to strike bell that does not belong (1333370).
Full description
C18th turret clock – signed on its elaborate setting dial by “Saml. Hart / Stonham” and said to have been bought by Wade from Oriel College, Oxford – on the gallery in Hundred Wheels. Samuel Hart (b.1694-d.1775) – who is listed in Haggar and Miller op.cit. p.92 – was a clockmaker from the Suffolk village of Stonham Aspal, so – if the setting dial does belong to the movement - the suggested Oxford provenance seems unlikely. Beeson’s Clockmaking in Oxfordshire 1400-1850 (1962) refers to a clock of 1820 at Oriel College, and an Internet search suggests that the College did not possess any estates in Suffolk from which this clock might have been acquired. The clock itself [not examined in detail] probably dates from around 1730 to 1750. C. Pickston Nov. 2009 'This type of clock would not have had a dial and was only hour striking. CPW bought this clock from Oriel College, Oxford, together with a quantity of locks and windows.' M. Jessup.
Provenance
Given to the National Trust with Snowshill Manor in 1951 by Charles Paget Wade