The Clocks of Willowbrook Series, Post 3...

The next clock we are sharing is a grandfather clock upstairs, which dates back to Ca. 1840. It belonged to Connie Sinclair, a friend of Peter's in Folkestone, and passed to Peter when he was a curate there.

It is not as old as the clock downstairs, but appears older because of all the heavily carved dark oak exterior...

The dark oak and pine cone carving almost reminds me of a Black Forest clock.

It was made by Sam Taylor of Framlingham, Suffolk, UK, and has a lovely chinoiserie painted face...

Unlike the country clock downstairs, which only has an hour hand, this clock has hours, minutes and seconds...

Below: Detail of a painted spandrel.

Below: The brass pendulum and 2 large lead weights...

Chiming 12...

I shall try to post with more frequency in the weeks ahead, but we have [delightfully] been rushed off our feet with enquiries about Willowbrook, and I have had a lot to do at work as well. Do stop by next weekend, I'm sure we will have come up with something inspirational for you by then. D&P.

The Clocks of Willowbrook Series, No.2...

Our Spiegelhalter clock hangs in the kitchen. The handsome face is about 16" across. The generous size of the clock face hides the pendulum box behind it, making it look like a station clock almost.

The name Spiegelhalter comes from Spiegel-Halde, meaning "looking-glass slope". It is supposed that the Spiegelhalter family came from a farm located in the Black forest region, which was on the side of a mountain over looking a lake, hence, looking-glass slope. George Spiegelhalter and his family ran a jewelers and watchmakers business in the East End of London from about 1828. The shop was originally located in Whitechapel...

 

but later relocated to 81 Mile End Rd...

We are guessing our clock dates from the time the shop was at 6 Mount Place Whitechapel (164 Whitechapel Rd), given the markings. This would place it prior to 1890. It was purchased for the Chapel of the old Royal London Hospital in the Whitechapel Road. The chapel was above the main entrance on the first floor. When Peter arrived as chaplain in 1990 the C of E chapel had been decommissioned in favour of an ecumenical chapel on the ground floor of the hospital, and he was asked by the matron to sell and dispose of what remained of the chapel furniture and fittings. He found the clock, not in working order, at the back of a dusty cupboard and bought it and had it restored by Colin Bent of Albion Clocks in East London. It requires winding every 14 days.

The Spiegelhalter family is probably more famous for their store in the mild end road, which they refused to sell to Wickhams department store despite all attempts to persuade them. Thus, the new department store was built around them, much in the same way as today's Chinese nail houses. This meant that the store's grand neoclassical facade is interrupted, and the tower above the facade had to be built off centre, something I would have found so distressing that I would have picked up sticks and built my department store elsewhere...

The Clocks of Willowbrook, Part 1...

This is the first in a series of posts exhibiting our collection of clocks, and we are going to start with the long case clock which stands inside the foyer. 

The clock was purchased in 1990 from Colin Bent of Albion Clocks in London, but dates back to 1740, coincidentally the same year the Royal London Hospital was opened.

It is a 'Country' long case clock, meaning that it only has an hour hand and only strikes the hours. This is because it was intended for listening to, rather than looking at. It was made in 1740 by Humphrey White of Fairford in Gloucestershire. 

From what we can tell from a variety of historical sources and registers, Humphrey White was the son of Thomas White (born 1677 - 1748). Thomas White had been an apprentice of Thomas Tompion, who is considered the father of English clock-making (famous amongst other things for creating the two very long pendulum clocks for the royal observatory for Charles II, which only required winding once a year and were accurate enough for performing astronomical calculations). 

Humphrey must have started working in the family business as he grew up, taking over it before 1740 (8 years before his father passed away). The Whites, along with another clock-maker Richard Honeybone, provided clocks to most of the Cotswold area. Fairford clocks are still very sought after today in the Cotswolds. There is an auction of one of Thomas White's clocks this month. How wonderful it would be to reunite father and son's work after all this time!

Above: The restrained style of the Georgian Country Clock standing in the foyer.

Below: A close up of the face showing the manufacturer's name.

Below: The full clock face with single iron hour hand and wonderful brass spandrels.

Below: The weights and pendulum.

It has a wonderful sonorous bell...

The next post of the series will exhibit the long-case clock on the landing upstairs. Join us then.