Clockmaker



For centuries, the township of Gloverstone, while within the City Walls, was outside the jurisdiction of the city authorities and under the protection of the crown. This was because it was part of the Chester Castle enclave reserved for the Crown under the charter of Henry VII (1506). This gave those residing there the freedom to trade within its boundaries without the requirement to become Freemen of the city. It also provided a home for "foreigners" and, as time passed, it attracted inhabitants from many social classes. Among these, in the late 17th and throughout the 18th century, settled a group of skilled clockmakers. If the Gloverstone itself was a prehistoric standing stone then the location is particularly apt, as people had possibly been figuring out the date here for millenia. There were also clockmakers in the rest of the city some of whom were members of important business families. The Chester Directory of 1781-7 lists a whole series of clockmakers in Eastgate Street (Robert Fletcher, George Moile, Robery Cawley), at the High Cross (G. Boswell), in Foregate Street (John Smith, Robert Higginson, Joseph Lumber), Bridge Street (Gabriel Smith, Benjamin Peers), Castle Street (Joseph Thomas), St John Street (John Ratcliffe) and Northgate Street (John Stanyer, Thomas Brown).

The training of clock- and watch-makers followed the usual apprentice system: typically with an "indenture" of up to seven years. Even in 1802 training was strict. An advertisement in the press reminds us that apprentices two hundred years ago could not lightly leave their masters' employment. It reads as foliows:


 * "To clock and watch makers. Ran I away from his master's service about six weeks ago, John Challinor, indentured apprentice to Robert Fletcher, of this city; he is about 5 feet 6 niches high, has brown hair cut short, and a little stammering in his speech. It is hoped that no one will employ the above John Challinor after this pubiic notice, but give information to his said master, who will defray all reasonable charges,"

Robert Fletcher was a well-known Chester maker and is recorded working as a clock & watch maker at several Chester addresses in the late 18th century ~ Linenhall Street (1782), Foregate Street (1789-95), Upper (Higher) Bridge Street (1792). The family business was taken over by his son, also Robert, who was granted his freedom in 1800. Under Robert jr the business also occupied various premises. The business also sold umbrellas, presumably because of the fine work which need to go into them before mass-production.

Public Clocks
Beginning in 12th century Europe, towns and monasteries built clocks in high towers to strike bells to call the community to prayer. Public clocks played an important timekeeping role in daily life until the 20th century, when accurate watches became cheap enough for ordinary people to afford. Today the time-disseminating functions of these so-called "turret clocks" are not much needed, and they are mainly built and preserved for traditional, decorative, and artistic reasons. Chester has many public clocks, the best known probably being those on the Eastgate, the Town Hall, Chester Station and St Peter. Many of these clocks have interesting histories. This article looks at some of these clocks and the more general history of clock- and watch-making in Chester.



The argument has been made that public clocks helped regulate economic activity and therefore improve efficiency. Academic studies have shown that early adopters of public clocks showed improved economic growth in the following centuries. An alternative explanation is that the adoption of a public clock is a symptom of economic prosperity rather than a cause. They were a symbol of patronage and those that chimed would publicise that patronage far and wide. They were also a means of control, making it clear when church or court attendance was expected or a curfew was being imposed. In Chester the first public clock appears to have been at St Peter: at the very heart of the city, on the site of the Roman center of control and administration and next to what was effectively the majors office.

Early clocks were "set" using a sundial to determine the time of noon, that is, when the sun was at it's highest point in the sky. "Clock" time and sundial time are not always the same. Apparent "clock" time, and the sundial, can be ahead (fast) by as much as 16 min 33 s (around 3 November), or behind (slow) by as much as 14 min 6 s (around 11 February). The so-called equation of time, when noon on a sundial and on a clock agree has zeros near 15 April, 13 June, 1 September, and 25 December. Ignoring very slow changes in the Earth's orbit and rotation, these events are repeated at the same times every year. However, due to the non-integral number of days in a year, these dates can vary by a day or so from year to year. A further complication arises from longitude: when the sun sets in Chester it is still above the horizon out in the Atlantic ocean. The difference is 4 minutes of time for each degree of longitude. The consequence of this meant that local time in the west of the country was significantly different from that at Dover. The difference across the country could be up to thirty minutes, but for years this was quite adequate for local use since no one could travel fast enough to suffer.

The coming of the railways brought a need for uniform national time-keeping. In the early days of the railways timetables included tables to convert local "church clock" time to "railway time". The difference between the two times could lead people to miss trains and at least one privately-funded public clock was built (at Frodsham) to display railway time as opposed to church clock time. For safe-keeping the Frodsham clock was also set three minutes fast. Worse still, if the railway staff did not have the correct time there was an obvious possibility for accidents. As will be seen below, Chester played an important part in the development of "Railway Time", but only after an accident in which time-keeping played a significant part according to the inquiry which followed.

Leadworks


Chester Leadworks clock dates from 1801 and is the oldest "existing" public clock in Chester. Other buildings had visible clocks which had been installed earlier but these had each been replaced with newer models. It was made by Whitehurst of Derby in 1803 and installed on the gable end of one of the Leadworks buildings overlooking the canal. The leadworks ceased operation around 2000 amid environmental concerns: analysis showed that the lead levels in the blood of children living in the area was abnormally high. In 2002 the three foot diameter clock face and it's works were stolen, but within weeks had been returned (although it's current (2020) whereabouts are not clear).

That the Whitehurst company should manufacture the clock for the leadworks provides an interesting geological link. John Whitehurst (10 April 1713 – 18 February 1788), born in Congleton was the son of a watch- and clock-maker who encouraged his early interest in geology. From 1770 he made clocks for Matthew Boulton whose Soho works mounted Whitehurst's movements. One of his major works was a siderial clock which told the time but also showed the movement of the sun in relation to the fixed stars. Whitehurst was also ascientific instrument maker, producing a range of products. He was a member of the Lunar Society. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1779. Whitehurst was involved in several mineral extraction schemes and the planning of canal routes. It is not known whether there was any special reason why the leadworks should choose a Whitehurst clock, but the connection with canals and minerals is noted.

Whitehurst was associated with the invention of the "tell tale" clock which was introduced around 1800 and made throughout the 19th century. As a timekeeping device, the dial rotates and the pins on the dial's periphery move through the pointer position, underneath the lever. Once the watchman actuates the lever, then the pin is depressed and will verify the watchman's visit to the clock at that time. Following his death, his nephews took over the business.

St Peter
The church of St Peter stands by the High Cross on the site of part of the Roman Praetorium and some of its fabric probably dates from that time. A church is said to have been built on this site by Æthelflæd in 907 when the Roman city was refortified by the Mercians. The church clock was at one time provided with "Jacks", animated wooden figures who rang the bell. These were paid for by Robert Amerye, who is otherwise noted for putting on the play "Chester's Prince" in 1610.

Clock "jacks" or "quarter boys" would ring a bell every quarter hour. In many cases this was not the main chiming bell but a separate one. The main belfrey at St Peter has a ring of 6 bells, but they are in such a state of disrepair, they are considered unringable. St Peter's have not been rung "full circle" since before the second world war at least. All 6 bells are still in the tower, and all swing freely, but the support structure or "tree" is in a precarious state. Some clappers are missing, and the wheels that remain are also apparently rotting away. The "jacks" can be seen in an illustration of St Peter by Randle Holme dating from just after the Civil War. The term "Jack" was also applied to the clockwork mechanism used to operate a roasting spit. Such a "jack" mechanism was described by Chester Bishop and writer John Wilkins in his book "Mathematical Magick" (1648).



The maintenance of the church clock was a regular charge on the city's finances. Harl. 2150 f.290 is an indenture of 2 Ed VI (c.1539) between the mayor and James Watmogh of Prescot, Lancashire for the clock and chimes to be kept in order for ten shillings per annum. The same "Watmougth" appears in the Presscot churchwardens account providing a similar service in 1531. One of the mayors books of the time of Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) notes an item of expenditure on the "orlogium Ecclesie Sancti Petri". It is not known whether this was a mechanical clock or some kind of eater-clock. A new (perhaps the first) mechanical clock was made in about 1585 by William Sampson, who appears to have been a blacksmith and was awarded the freedom of the ciry in recompence. The burial record of St Oswald for the year 1585 notes:


 * "Ales Sampson daughter to Sampson the clockmaker, 17th September"

The actual agreement for the provision of clock is recorded in Chester "Assembley Order 492" of 1585:


 * "Whereas William Sampsoune clockmaker exhibiteth his bill to be free of this citie in consideracon to make a clock and orderly and substantial chymes in the Parish Church of St. Peter th'appostle within the said Cittie with a dyall streetwards there to dc-oerne the iioures and tymes of the day upon his own charges (having found to him all carpenters' work, ropes, peace and an c and di iron) which being waied and considered it is news fully agreed upon by the said Maior etc. That the saide Sampson After that he shall have fully made the saide clock, chymes and dyall in sorte as be- fore shall be enfranchised and made free gratis in consideracon thereof."



In 1579 we read:


 * "And further it is ordered by the said Maior Sheriffs and Common Counsaille that the levelookers for the time being shall yearlie give and paie for the reparinge of the chimes of St. Peter's in good tune and for all charges thereof, XXs to him who hath or shall take the keepings of the same."

"Leave-lookers" were officers of the corporation who, amongst other things, ensured that non-guild tradesmen did not conduct busimess in the city except during the annual fairs. Two leave-lookers were presented to the Mayor's court in 1598 for not maintaining the clock at St Peter:


 * "The Levelookers Christopher Conway and John Ratcliffe are presented for not maintaining "Ie chimes St. Petre" in sufficient repair and permitting them to be very ruinous to the nuisance cf all the Inhabitants."

The churchwarden's accounts also tell of payments for repairs to Thomas Locker (1628) and Thomas Malbon (1643). During all this time the clock of St Peter would not have had a pendulum - the pendulum clock was not invented until 1656. As the power of a spring varies with the tightness of winding early spring clocks were not particularly accurate and so the clock would have been powered by weights. George Lowe, who founded the firm of jewelers was a clockmaker and his shop was located outside of St Peter in the base of the Pentice. No-doubt he promoted his business with reference to the "glove" ("G.LOWE") which was suspended above his shop during the City fair.

The present clock may be that of 1813 installed when the church was re-cased externally by Thomas Harrison, and is not particularly reliable (it is often stopped and therefore only right twice a day). In 1825 the clock face was adapted to be lit by gaslight: the gasworks having opened in Cuppin Street in 1817. This illumination was commented on when the Chester antiquarians were debating the line of the Roman road south of the city towards Heronbridge:




 * "Mr. Massie concluded his argument by saying if any person should ohance to be walking in the Eaton-road towards Chester after dark, he will see right before him the lights on each side of the higher end of Bridge-street, with the illuminated clock of St. Peter's in the centre. This then was the straight Roman road in all its integrity" (Courant, 15th June 1904);

This illumination had been the subject of some debate and the Corporation had taken over the costs in 1900, after two years of delay. The clock was repaired and modified in 1865, and again in 1902 according to the Chester Courant of 25th June of that year:


 * "The shopkeepers and residents in Bridge- street have this week been quite in a fog as to the time, the reason being that St. Peter's clock has been undergoing repair. The clocks of St. Peter's Church are of historic interest. We gather from the "Parish Magazine" that "The repairs of St. Peter's, as the principal city church, were in the Tudor period undertaken by the civic authorities. Reference is made more than once to the maintenance of the chimes, and in 27 Elizabeth a certain clockmaker, William Sampson, obtained his freedom in return for providing a suitable clock and chimes. In 1598, however, the leavelookers, Christopher Conway and John Ratcliffe, were presented for not maintaining "le chimes S. Petre" in sufficient repair and permitting them to be very ruinous ("valde ruinos ad nocumentum tot inhabitant") to the nuisance of all the inhabitants." In 1612, through, the generosity of a parisioner (Mr. Robert Amery) St. Peter's clock was made to stnke every quarter of an hour. The present clock has the following inscriptions upon it: Bowers, Fecit, 1813. Rector, Rev. John Baldwin. Churchwardens, Charles Colton, Joseph Johnson. "This clock was illuminated 1835. Rev. J. Halton. Churchwardens, J. E. Podmore, J. Oakes. T. Moreland, contractor."This clock was altered and repaired A.D. 1865 Rector, Frederick Forde, M.A. Churchwardens, John Higgms, Thomas Miller Wilcock."

Amery seems to have a minor obsession with bells, as he also provided the bells (returnable each year) used as a prize in the eponymous horse-race. Rev Robert Rogers (Archdeacon at Chester) recorded:


 * "In AD 1609, Mr William Lester, mercer, beinge mayor of Chester, one Mr Robert Amerye, ironmonger, sometime sherife of Chester (ad 1608) he, with the assente of the mayor and cittie, at his own coste chiefly as I conceive caused three silver cupps or bells of good value to be made the whiche saide silver cuppes were upon St George's daye for ever to be thus disposed: - all gentlemen that woulde bringe their horses to the Rood dee that daye and there rune that horse which with spede did over rune the reste shoulde have the beste cuppe..."

Chester Station
The clock at Chester Station is offset from its original position above the main entrance. This was done when City Road was laid out as the slight angle of that road concealed the clock from those approaching the station. Many people, when asked what is above the doorway of Chester Station will refer to the clock, and get it wrong. The matter actually once confused Judge Samuel Moss of the Chester Country Court, who interrupted proceedings in 1907 to explain:




 * "I was once in a case in which a man swore be oould see the railway station clock from the litt!e tobacconist's shop on City-road. I was so astonished that I made a point of seeing the place, and I find you can see, at any rate, a long way." (Courant, 12th November 1907)

So far as is known the station was provided with a clock when it first opened in 1848: it certainly appears in illustrations in the guide to Chester produced by Hughes in 1858.

Chester Station played a little-known part in the development of time-keeping. Before embarking on any voyage, it was important that a ship’s chronometer should be set accurately to GMT and that any daily drift in its time keeping be known. This could be done by reference to time obtained at a local astronomical observatory equipped with a "transit" telescope to determine when the sun crossed the meridian and hence the precise time of noon: a significant improvement on the use of a sundial. The setting procedure would entail either taking the ship’s chronometer to the observatory, or checking with the port authority’s display of a chronometer synchronised to an observatory’s master clock. Many ports provided a time signal each day, either by raising or lowering a visible time ball at the quayside or by firing a cannon.

Before the advent of the telegraph, station-masters adjusted their clocks using tables supplied by the railway company to convert local time to "London Time". In turn, train guards set their chronometers against those clocks. The introduction of railway time was in the end swift despite not being straightforward. The Great Western Railway was the first to standardise its timetable on "Greenwich Mean Time", in November 1840. One of the most vociferous proponents of standardising time on the railways was Henry Booth, Secretary of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, who by January 1846 had ordered the adjustment of clocks to Greenwich Mean Time at both Liverpool and Manchester stations.

In 1857 the Magnetic Telegraph Company (based in Liverpool and associated with the telegraph line which ran from Liverpool to Holyhead through Hilbre Island) acquired the patent of Robert Lewis Jones of Chester for regulating electric clocks. Jones was once a chemical supplier to the Tanning industry in Chester and then, after selling his works at "Chemistry Lock", the manager at Chester Station. Jones apparently first applied his invention to the "Turrest" clock at Chester Station. This development in horology is described in "ELECTRIC CLOCKS" as follows:




 * "Mr. R. L. Jones, the station master (sic) of Chester, evolved the idea of sympathetic pendulums by simply applying Bain’s electro-magnetic pendulum bob to existing key-wound clocks. His Patent, No. 702, of 1857, claims the obvious advantages of perfect synchronisation, of independent life in case of electrical failure, and small current consumption. He applied it with success to his own turret clock at Chester and to a turret clock in the Victoria Tower in Liverpool. Then Mr. F. James Ritchie, of Edinburgh, took hold of it and supplied many observatories with pairs and triplets of sympathetic pendulums. In 1873, Ritchie carried it a step further. Realising what a very small expenditure of electrical energy was required to keep two tuned pendulums in phase, he was tempted to dispense with the spring or weight-driven maintenance with its merit of independent life, and drove the hands from the pendulum as Bain had done in his earliest earth-driven clocks, but by an improved method which may be described as a reversed gravity escapement."

Jones was most likely driven to develop his clock following the Sutton Tunnel railway accident. He was one of those responsible for filling trains at Chester on a very busy "race day". Unfortunately the trains were overloaded and one of them stalled at the entrance to the tunnel. A second train shunted it into the tunnel, but a third entered the tunnel at speed and there was a collision. The subsequent enquiry raised issues about time-keeping at Chester.

Jones may have been a versatile fellow but he was no clockmaker and it is likely that he was assisted by someone in developing his electrical clock system. One possible candidate is Thomas Moreland, a Chester clockmaker who also appears to have been involved with the early development of the railway in Chester (see: Railway Times: Volume 2). Moreland (who is described as "a character" in the Cheshire Sheaf) had a workshop near the station in Brook Street (according to Hemingway's "Poll Book") and is known to have made at least two clocks for the booking office at Chester Station. Moreland later moved to Northgate Street and there is more on him below.

St John's Hospital
The Corporation rebuilt the St John's Hospital (otherwise known as the Bluecoat) complex in 1715–17 with a rear courtyard which included six one-storeyed almshouses for women. The almswomen shared £30 a year under the will of Alderman Joseph Crewe, proved 1801. Mismanagement (see Owen Jones for further examples of this) greatly reduced the value of the hospital's rents; by 1836 they were worth £600 a year (approaching £50,000 in 2015 money), of which only £85 was spent on the almspeople, the rest being carried to the corporation's general account as it had been since c. 1762. An action at law to establish what estates belonged to the hospital and to vest them in the Municipal Charities Trustees was begun in 1838 but not completed until a Chancery Scheme, evidently of 1852, ordered the almshouses to be rebuilt to house 13 paupers who received 10s. a week each. As rebuilt in 1854 by Morris and Hobson for the Trustees of Hospital of St John Baptist, the almshouses each included a sitting room, bedroom, and scullery. A Charity Commission Scheme of 1892 assigned the substantial surplus to pay pensions to other townspeople. Under a Scheme of 1976 the hospital, still supporting 13 almshouses, was absorbed by the Chester Municipal Almshouse Charity, and the almshouses remain in use, the most recent having opened in April 2006. The rebuilt Hospital included a school.



The Bluecoat has two bells on its roof: the conspicuous "Galeka Bell", plus a second bell largely hidden inside the bell tower. The bell inside the bell tower was cast in 1716 and has been in situ – and chiming on the hour – since 1717. Many people believe that the bell they hear ringing at St John's Hospital is the one on the corner of the building. That is in fact the "Galeka Bell" which was salvaged from a WWI hospital ship, SS Galeka. The name of the ship is derived from the Galeka (Gcaleka Xhosa), a people crowded into a narrow drought-stricken coastal strip of South Africa near East London and involved in the "Ninth Frontier War" (1877–79) when "Galekaland was turned into a desolation of burnt-out kraals and empty grain-pits". In other words the ship took its name from the massacre of almost unarmed locals by colonial troops.

She was a 6772 ton steam ship built in 1899 for the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company by Harland and Wolff and had a top speed of 12.5 knots. The ship was launched on 21 October 1899 and completed on 23 December 1899. She was the last vessel to enter service before the merger between the Union and Castle shipping lines in 1900 and transferred to the UC Line while fitting-out. She served on the South Africa route until the First World War. Later she was requisitioned for use as a British troop transport: the 2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps left Southampton on the SS Galeka and arrived at Le Havre on 13th August 1914. Galeka carried troops of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps to the Gallipoli Campaign, landing the 6th and 7th Bns., Australian Imperial Force, at Anzac Cove on the morning of 25th April 1915. She was then refitted as a hospital ship with accommodation for 366 wounded passengers. When entering Le Havre on 28th October 1916, SS Galeka hit a mine laid by the German U-boat UC-26. Nineteen Royal Army Medical Corps were killed - she was not carrying any patients at the time. The Galeka was beached at Cap Le Hogue, but was a total loss (and Union-Castle's first war casualty).

The Galeka had been owned by Sir Owen Phillips – a major shipowner and MP for Chester (1916-1922). At Phillips request, the bell was eventually brought to Chester and placed atop the Bluecoat building (canal-side corner) in commemoration to those who had fought in WW1. Over one hundred Bluecoat alumni signed up in WW1 and twelve were killed. In 1930 it was revealed that Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (which had adsorbed the Union Castle Line) had previously undisclosed liabilities in excess of £10,000,000. This was enough for the banks to act, and much of Philipps' powers were removed to trustees, although Philipps remained chairman until November 1930. In February 1931 he went to South Africa on holiday, and in his absence it was revealed that for several years the Royal Mail Steam Packet group had been paying dividends to stockholders despite trading at a loss since 1925. On his return from South Africa Philipps was arrested and charged with making false statements with regard to company accounts for 1926 and 1927, contrary to section 84 of the Larceny Act 1861. He was found guilty and subsequently served ten months in Wormwood Scrubs prison before being released in August 1932.

The "spooky" part of this story is that the origins of the bell at St John's had been completely forgotten by modern times. On Friday 28th October 2016 the Building manager decided to inspect the roof of St John's on a whim, and, after reading the name on the bell looked the ship up. It was 100 years to the day since she was sunk.

A replacement clock for the Bluecoat was made by Thomas Moreland (of business premises then in Brook Street, died 1872) in 1843, but it is not clear whether that is the current clock or whether it has been replaced. Moreland seems to have started making "Turret" clocks around 1820. He also made the Christleton church clock and in 1847/48 at least two long-case clocks for the booking office at Chester Station. Moreland's daughter Sarah (1826-1906) carried on her father's business at 72 Northgate Street. She is buried, together with Thomas Moreland and his wife (Mary) in Overleigh Cemetery (plot P4959). Sarah Morland never married and spent her social time at the Matthew Henry Chapel in Trinity Street, where her legacy paid for the heating system. All of the Morelands were apparently members of the congregation and had both a family pew and a memorial brass (since lost). Miss Moreland's death was recorded in the Courant on the 29th February 1906:




 * "DEATH OF MISS MORELAND. — We regret to announcs the death, which occurred on Friday morning, of Miss Sarah Moreland, a well-known Chester iady, who carried un the business of clock and watch maker in Northgate-street. Miss Moreland, who was in he! eighty-first year, was one of the oldest traders in the Ctty, having carried on the busings in Northgate-street since the death, about thirty years ago, of her father, Mr. Thomas Morcland, who was a. noted practical ciock-mnker. In spite of her advanced age, deceased was wonderfuliy active and strong until a few weeks ago, when she contracted bronchitis, from which death eveatualiy supervened."

Perhaps rather sadly, Sarah's goods went up for sale a few weeks later:


 * "PRELIMINARY Notice of SALE of the whole of the WATCH and CLOCK MAKER'S and JEWELLER'S STOCK, at the GROSVENOR SALE ROOMS, NEWGATE. STREET, CHESTER, removed for convenience of sale from No. 72, Northgate-street, by order of the Exora. of the late Miss Moreiand."

Her house was also put up for sale:


 * "MESSRS. CUNNAH & ROBERTS will OFFER ?JL for SALE BY PUBLIC.AUCTION, at the Blossoms Hotel, Chester, on SATURDAY, the 31st day of March, 1906, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, subject to conditions of sale to be then produced- All that very Valuable Freehold DWELLING- HOUSE, SHOP. and PREMISES, Nos. 70 and 72, Northga.te-street, Chester, for many years past in the occupation of the late Miss Moreland. The Dwelling House contains dining room, three bedrooms, three attics, kitchen and scullery. The Premises can be inspected on application, and for further particulars apply to the Auctioneers, Newgate-street, Chester or to MESSRS. SHARPE & DAVISON, Solicitors, 12, Abbey-square,"

Racecourse
The county stand and the weighing room both have modern "stable" type turret clocks. There is no particular history associated wit any of these clocks. There is a public clock on the 2013 stables building by the River Dee at the Portpool. Again, there is nothing particularly special about the clock.

St Michael
The clock at St Michael is an electrical replacement of the original. It has gold hands and roman numerals and a light blue face. The earlier church also had a clock but problems arose in the 1840s as the interior of St Michael's had become inconvenient, unsightly and dilapidated with the tower being declared unsafe. By the 1840s the south and east walls of the church were also revealed to be in poor condition and whole church was unsafe. Between 1849 and 1851 it was virtually rebuilt in a late Decorated style by James Harrison, only the north arcade, part of the north wall, and the roofs (but not the ceilings) being retained. The west doorway and parts of the porch are said to have been moved to Grosvenor Park - and are still there. Apart from the north aisle and chancel roof, which date from the 15th century, most of what can be seen today is James Harrison's work. The tower is in three stages. The south end of Bridge Street Row passes through the open first stage of the tower, with stone steps up to the row to the north and down to the pavement to the south. The second stage has two-light windows with a clock face on the west side and a blank clock-face panel to the south. The third stage has bell openings, above which is a string course with gargoyles. On the top is a crenellated parapet with eight crocketed pinnacles and a wind vane. The south wall is also crenellated. There is no mention of a clock in the inventory taken in 1553 at the time of the Reformation, although bells are mentioned and in other churches clockx are listed. In 1602, which was a plague year, the bell ringers were paid to ring at 8 in the evening and at four in the morning, and in 1607, when troops were being shipped through Chester to Ireland, for ringing the day-bell and curfew. There is again no mention of a clock. An 1849 illustration, just before restoration, shows the church by that time had obtained a clock on the south face of the tower. St Bridget, which once stood opposite, never had a clock.



Steam Mill Street
The prominently marked "Steam Mill" beside the Canal dates from 1834 and was built partly over and partly alongside the original mill, which was the first steam-driven commercial flour mill using Boulton and Watt’s rotative engine in 1786 and predates the often-quoted Albion Flour Mills in London by three months - while work at the Albion Mill had started earlier, the Chester engine was the first to be completed. The Albion Mill in London was later gutted by fire, but the shell of the building was the inspiration for William Blake‘s "dark satanic mills". The interior of the Chester mill was notable for a blown-air seed-transport system upward, and a gravity system downward, which were removed on conversion of the warehouse to offices.



Often missed are the Mill Offices in cobbled Steam Mill Street, a very short distance from the canal. This baroque 1897 building has a central clock in an ornate stone surround (dated 1897). The third part of the mill complex is the surviving part of the original Steam Mill from c1785 whose boilerhouse and engine house have since been demolished. The middle wing facing Steam Mill Street stands in the position of the Steam Mill shown on Weston's map of Chester dated 1789 (engraved by Hunter) and incorporates what may be original cast-iron columns and beams; the 4-storey north wing facing the Chester Canal is probably early C19; the external features of the middle and south wings are probably 1840s. The square internal chimney below roof level survives at the junction of the middle and south wings. One owner of the mill was the Wrench family who also counted among their number noted clockmakers. The Wrenches decided to move their business here after a 1819 fire at the Dee Mills at the Old Dee Bridge and so converted a disused cotton mill by the canal. Then they used the newly discovered steam engine for milling. The Wrenches prospered in Steam Mill Street, and expanded the mills until they became one of the largest milling firms in the country.

Writing in the 1830's, Hemingway listed the area around Steam Mill Street with his usual snobbishness:


 * "the environs of Frodsham Street, Love Street, Steam Mill Street, Watergate Street, Northgate Street, Commonhall Street, Cuppin Street, Pepper Street, and Lower Bridge Street were all of inferior grade"

He is a little more specific about Steam Mill Street being "not of the most reputable description":


 * "..an opening leading to the canal in the olden time designated Horn lane but now called Steam Mill Street. It is said to have received the former appellation from one or both of its boundary banks having been formed of the hoofs and horns of cattle brought there from the various tanneries with which the neighbourhood abounded; its latter cognomen is derived from a corn mill at the top of the street occupied by the Messrs Frost's who have built on the opposite side of the way an extensive warehouse with which the mill is connected by a stage thrown across from the respective upper stories in each building. In the description of the city in the fourteenth century this was called Chester lane and by Webb somewhat more than two hundred years ago we have it named Starre lane. The houses in this street are in general small and paltry and the neighbourhood not of the most reputable description. A small chapel has lately been erected here used as a place of worship by the Primitive Methodists more generally known by the appellation of Ranters."

Hughes also notes how this was a poor part of town:


 * "Returning to the main street we soon arrive through poverty hunger and dirt at Hoole Lane the corner of which is now embellished with a neat little structure known as the Chester Ragged Schools for the use of those tattered little specimens of humanity ever found about the streets of all populous towns."



St Paul's Boughton
St Paul's Boughton is a much overlooked Chester building. It ceased to be a church in 2016, when it was closed by the Diocese, as it was found to be in very bad repair, and indeed in danger of sliding down the hill into the River Dee. St Paul's was named by the Victorian Society as one of the "Top Ten Heritage Buildings at Risk" for 2016. It was virtually rebuilt in 1876 to a design by John Douglas, who added the south aisle in 1902, and the spire in 1905. The original church was by William Cole. Described in Nikolaus Pevsner as "the boldest of Douglas' church designs" the stunning "Arts and Crafts" interior retains wall paintings and wonderful stained glass windows by Kempe, Frampton, William Morris, and Burne-Jones.

The new clock that was installed in the spire in 1905 was paid for by the legacy of Nessie Brown (she also paid for the nearby monument to George Marsh). The clock is of the "Lord Kelvin Compensating Balance" type and was believed to be accurate, averaged over a year, to three seconds a week (Chester Courant 3rd May 1905). Miss Brown's motive in installing such an accurate clock may have been been pronpted by the frequent complaints from the inhabitants of Chester about the trams that:


 * "the Corporation should add a little more to the expenditure by providing, wheie necessary, watches for the drivers, and see that they are at correct time each morning before turning out, that the men could rely upon them, and not have to trust to any clock they may see en route."

No sooner was the clock installed than a long debate with the Corporation started as to who should carry the cost of lighting it. The Brown family history of clockmaking may have led them to fund other church clocks in Chester. Charles Brown left money for the clock at Hoole parish church as recorded in the Courant (6th July 1904):


 * "The vestry of All Saints', Hoole, discharged the agreeable duty on Wednesday of accepting with hearty thanks the generous offer of a clock from the executors of'the late Mr. Charles Brown, and granting permission for the erection. This is, of course, subject to the decree of the Consistory Court, where at the end of the month a faculty will be applied for. The clock is to be erected in the belfry, and will be constructed with a view to illumination at some future date. There will be three dials or faces of white opal, and the clock will strike the hours and chime the quarters. Tho gift will, to use a familiar and expressive phrase, supply a long-felt want in the parish. It is satis- factory to learn that the vestry decided to also apply for permission to put a brass tablet in the church recording the gift."



Eaton Chapel Clock
Eaton Chapel is the private chapel of the Grosvenors to the north of Eaton Hall in Eaton Park, near the village of Eccleston. Building of the chapel commenced in 1869, soon after the estate was inherited by Hugh Grosvenor, the 3rd Marquess of Westminster, in conjunction with a major rebuilding of the hall. Grosvenor became the 1st Duke of Westminster in 1874. He appointed Alfred Waterhouse as architect and the building was completed in 1884. When the Waterhouse hall was demolished in 1963, the chapel was retained.

Many people only see the tower from a distance and assume that it is completely free-standing. However it is still associated with the chapel. A common myth is that it is a copy for the Duke of Westminster of the Elizabeth Tower at Westminster, completed in 1859. Close comparison of Pugin's Elizabeth Tower and the Eaton Tower shows that this is not true.

The clock-tower is free-standing, but joined to the chapel at the lower two storeys, and by a bridge above. The tower has six stages and contains tall lancet bell-openings. Above these is the clock stage, corbelled out from the shaft of the tower and surmounted by pinnacles at each corner. On each side is a clock face made from vitreous enamel; each clock face is 9 feet 8 inches (2.95 m) in diameter. Over this is a spire decorated with gables and pinnacles.

Henry Twells Clock


The clock is in the Cathedral but never belonged to Henry Twells. Henry Twells was born in Ashted, Birmingham on March 13th, 1823. Twells at­tend­ed Pe­ter­house Coll­ege, Cam­bridge, and be­came Cur­ate at Berk­ham­sted and Sub-Vic­ar at Strat­ford-on-Avon. In 1856, he be­came head­mas­ter of Go­dolph­in School, Ham­mer­smith, Lon­don. He be­came Vi­car of Walt­ham-on-the-Wolds, Lei­ces­ter­shire, in 1871, and Can­on of Peter­bor­ough in 1884. After re­tir­ing to Bourne­mouth, he helped at St Ste­phen’s, and built and part­ly en­dowed St Au­gus­tine’s Church. He wrote many poems and several hymns. The text of the poem under his clock at the Cathedral is that of his "Times Paces" and reads:


 * "When as a child I laughed and wept, time crept. When as a youth I waxed more bold, time strolled. When I became a full-grown man, time RAN. When older still I daily grew, time FLEW. Soon I shall find, in passing on, time gone. O Christ! wilt Thou have saved me then? Amen."

This is the original version of the poem, but not the best known. A modified version of the poem was used in a 1952 sermon by Guy Pentreath (1902–1985) in an amended version. Pentreath had probably reconstructed the poem from memory after seeing the clock in the Cathedral. While he made no attempt himself to publicise his version, it somehow was published and was often quoted.

The clock was made in about 1820 and was orignally mounted on a solid wall which ran across the middle of the church. However, the stone wall was replaced with the present wooden screen in the nineteenth century; the clock was kept and a new case built to house the movement. Whoever made the case was certainly no craftsman since it is actually made out of old floorboards, roughly nailed together. It was recently "restored" to the extent that it would remain intact while maintaining its shambolic appearance.

Old TSB Bank
This 1851-3 building is the most happily composed and detailed of James Harrison's designs in Chester. On a corner site, the construction is of tooled sandstone with smooth flush quoins and a grey slate roof. The north-west front to Grosvenor Street has a recessed entrance bay, east, with double carved panelled doors of oak in an arched opening with label-mould and a janitor's window of one cusped light. A well-handled corner clock-turret is faced with blank tracery and crowned with a Tudor octagonal stone belfry cupola.

Chester Savings Bank was one of the first trustee banks to be established in England and Wales. It was set up in 1817, in response to local demand. The Bank’s first home was in the Exchange, in Northgate Street. By the middle of the 19th century, business had grown to the extent that the Bank needed its own self-contained offices. It moved to these purpose-built premises in Grosvenor Street, in 1853. The plans were the result of an 1847 competition which Harrison won. The Bank continued to expand over the next few decades. By the end of the century, it had attracted more than 4,000 depositors. An Act of Parliament was passed in 1904 that allowed savings banks to merge with one another. Chester Savings Bank seized this opportunity, amalgamating with Wrexham Savings Bank in 1906. At that point, Wrexham had been on the brink of collapse. The newly-formed Chester & Wrexham Savings Bank went on to absorb five others before the outbreak of the First World War. The Bank established more branches during the interwar period. Then, after the Second World War, it changed its name to the Chester, Wrexham & North Wales Savings Bank. With the passing of the TSB Act of 1976, and the resultant restructure, Chester became part of TSB of Wales & Border Counties: this paved the way for TSB to be floated on the Stock Exchange ten years later, when it became a fully-fledged plc.



The building housed TSB bank until the 1980s and was briefly known as a Viking Restaurant before being taken over by Chester restaurateur Stephen Wundke in 1992 when he re-opened it as Paparazzi, later known as Pastarazzi Ristorante. Since then it has continued to house a restaurant. The clock (said to be 1846, although that is prior to the construction date of the building) is by Joyce of Whitchurch. The importance of public clocks is underlined that when this and other clocks in Chester were stopped for repair the matter was of sufficient importance to be noted in the newspapers. The Courant for the 1st November 1905 carried the following notice:


 * "SAVINGS BANK CLOCK. — We are officially informed that owing to the requirement of extensive repairs this clock, which is of such great service to the public, will be stopped for several days from last Monday "

The clock is said to be notable because it was one of the earliest "turret" clocks to have a gravity escapement. This form of escapement mechanism is preferred for turret clocks because their wheel trains are subjected to large variations in drive force caused by the large exterior hands, with their varying wind, snow, and ice loads. The clock at "Big Ben" uses such a form of escapement.

Eastgate
After "Big Ben" (the clock not the bell) the Eastgate clock is believed to be the most photographed clock in England. It was designed by John Douglas and commemorates the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria (1897). The ironwork was made by Handbridge master-blacksmith James Swindley, Douglas' cousin. The clock was unveiled on the 24th May 1899 (being started by the mayor at a quarter to one). J B Joyce & Co, the same company that built it, still exists after a fashion. In 1964, Norman Joyce, the last member of the Joyce family, retired and sold the company to Smith of Derby. Until 1974 a technician from Smith of Derby had to travel to Chester each week to wind it. After souvenir hunters stole the hands of the clock, the city council glazed the clock faces in 1988. Only in 1992 was an electrical mechanism fitted to replace the original wind-up mechanism. In 1996 the clock faces were restored with their original colours. The clock tower has four, 4ft 6 inch dials that were originally gas lit, but are now powered by electricity with battery back-up and a computer chip which keeps the clock to precise time. The clock has a flatbed frame, a pinwheel escapement (48 pins), and was originally designed, after some difficulty, with an additional wheel in the train to shorten the weight drop and enable a weight powered clock to be used instead of sprung clockwork. As the newspaper records of the time show, the clock was almost not built at all, and it may even have looked entirely different.

The initial design proposed looks nothing like the present Eastgate Clock. The initial conception was described in the Courant of 13th October 1897:


 * "The structure was intended to be of Mansfield red sandstone, and it would have spanned the present footway over the existing arch, the lower arcaded story having a vaulted ceiling, and the clock tower itself being covered with a copper roof and vane."

Local occupants immediately complained that this would cast a shadow on their premises and plans were rapidly revised to propose taking down the archway completely and replacing it with latticed girder bridge. This plan was also abandonned as reported in the newspapers of the time: "in the meantime the Jubilee enthusiasm of the citizens has evaporated".



Eventually something like the John Douglas design was settled on as the leading proposal. The cost of the clock dials and mechanism was to a large part met by Edward Evans-Lloyd who contributed £600. Indeed, his name appears on the south face of the clock, which states (on an iron plaque made at Coalbrookdale):


 * “This clock was presented to the City by Edward Evans-Lloyd Citizen & Freeman, 1897.”

Prior to the erection of the clock there was considerable debate as to whether the funds raised would be better spent on the Maternety Hospital in Grosvenor Street, or indeed on a clock for the Town Hall. Others proposed that the entire gate should be knocked down and re-built as it was too narrow. One writer noted when a canvas model of the clock was erected to demonstrate the concept:


 * "I hope it may be more artistic than the canvas erection, at which even my horse was so terrified that he declined to pass under!"

This prolonged debate so delayed the construction of the clock that it was not errected until some years after the jubilee - one wag wrote to the Courant (23rd November 1898) asking:


 * "The clock on the Eastgate? Will this be ever seen before the next Jubilee? Who is to blame for its non-erection? ".

A typical example of the debate was reported on the Courant for the 6th October 1897. It appears that the hospital proposal was supported by the Duke of Westminster, who would eventually snub the opening ceremony of the clock by not turning up, something which caused some pointed comments during the ceremony.



The unveiling ceremony was documented in The Chronicle, 24th May 1899. The writer of the article claimed the ceremony was "singularly dull and uninteresting". After the ceremony there was a subscription lunch at the Grosvenor Hotel for the Mayor, Councillors and other civic dignitaries. Not many people attended this and the writer also notes that half the Councillors failed to make an appearance at the ceremony. As the Courant reported (31st May), one anonymous clergyman wrote:


 * "I must confess that the ceremony attending the event was, in my opinion, greatly marred for want of management or through somebody's blundering. Where were the clergy to-day, and where were all the ministers ? Why were they snuffed out and not invited as of yore to take part in such an important public event ? For it was such, and I say shame upon the councillors who stayed away. A public gift of this kind is usually dedicated by prayer to the Giver of All, and I should have liked to have seen this old usage performed on this occasion; and the omission will cause me, at least, ever to look upon it as the undedicated clock."

The plinth of the clock is inscribed: "THIS CLOCK TOWER WAS ERECTED IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 60TH YEAR OF THE REIGN OF VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS (east); ANTIQUI COLANT ANTIQUUM DIERUM: B.C. ROBERTS, MAYOR 1897; J.C. HOLMES, MAYOR 1898 (west - it is actually J. G. Holmes); THIS CLOCK WAS ERECTED BY EDWARD EVANS-LLOYD CITIZEN AND FREEMAN 1897 (south) and ERECTED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION & COMPLETED A.D. 1899 H. STOLTEFORTH MAYOR (north)"

Not everyone was in favour of the clock. Artist Charles Marston (of Mold) wrote to the Courant:


 * "THE EASTGATE CLOCK. A PROTEST. Sir,— Will you allow me space in your valuable paper to express my regret at the erection of the clock on Eastgate Bridge. Anybody with a sense of order and harmony in his nature will see at once that the tower or clock, or whatever it may be called, which stands at present on Eastgate Bridge, never ought to have been put there, as it is entirely out of keeping with its surroundings. Of course, everybody appreciates the good nature of Colonel Evans-Lloyd in giving the clock. But it is most annoying to any lover of art that so abnormal an over-growth should be erected in the midst of that which is picturesque and lovely. The pity is that the architectural features of Chester should be sullied by the close proximity of a giant toy, a plaything in the nursery; a petite ornament in a lady's drawing-room, to fill up some little corner, becomes an object of contempt when viewed as a street decoration, and that in one of the most beautiful cities in the world"

Another correspondent of the Courant, known only by initials "T.H." suggested that the clock be coated with sand so that it did not stand out:


 * "THE EASTGATE CLOCK. Sir, Your Mold correspondent deals rather hardly with the new time-keeper. But, he overlooks the fact that both clock and gate- way were erected for their usefulness, before anything. And I question whether the clock and appurtenances are not quite in keeping with its neighbour, the Grosvenor Hotel P As to the character of the ironwork, surely there has been no muddle over it P But, I begin to fear they have given too lofty a mount to the clock. The ironwork should, if possible, be coated with sand the colour of the arch-or it will look like a fish out of water. As to the gateway, the abominable thing supplanted an ancient massive one over a hundred years ago- the greatest Cestrian mistake of the last three centuries. T. H."

"T.H." may have been motivated by the fact that his own much cheaper design had been rejected. Yet another corresponent of the Courant (22nd March 1899) bemoaned the delay in erecting the clock:




 * "Cherster'a Jubilee Memorial Clock on the Eastgate has in all conscience occupied a sufficiently long time in erection; but there was no need, we should have thought, to commemorate that fact so pointedly for the benefit of posterity. The ironwork of the structure bears the names of no fewer than three Mayors of the city—1897-'98-'99—thus making a historical record of the period which tbe citizens of Chester required to complete the monument. It would have surely been a happier and more appropriate plan to have adhered to the committee's original decision, to inscribe on the memorial only the names of the MAYOR and SHERIFF of the Jubilee year, which, after all, will be the only interesting fact for future generations."

In 2015 the Eastgate clock was renovated and for that purpose a protective cover was installed. The ingenious cover hiding the scaffolding depicted a photographic image of the bridge and clock and even has working hands to tell the time. The idea was so that "tourists and visitors could still have a snap taken with Chester’s world-famous landmark". It is supposed the cover was not cheap and the local council carefully supervised the works. Unfortunately, the imitation clock face was printed as a mirror image of what it should have been and therefore put on backwards. CW&C Council leader Mike Jones, commented: "That took some time to spot.." A subsequent survey of ornamental detail found a significant number of "iron" flowers to be replacements. Repairs had been made in wood and the "VR" motifs above the clock faces were plastic replicas! Several coats of unsuitable paint had been applied over the years forming a crust that had pulled away from metal surfaces trapping water. Non-original flowers and other features were replicated in authentic material, referencing the original architect’s drawings where possible.

In 2018 the Eastgate clock and the Town Hall clock were illuminated in purple as part of a national campaign recognising "Purple Flag" towns and cities in the UK. Purple Flag status recognises areas that offer an "entertaining, diverse, safe and enjoyable night out" and Chester is one of only 70 towns and cities in the UK to have achieved it. Since then the clock has been illuminated in various colours for charitable causes. The Eastgate Clock is lit with LED technology, so it’s quite easy for the street lighting engineers to alter the colour.



Town Hall
One often-mentioned feature of the Town Hall is that the clock tower only has a clock on three of the four sides, and that the clock face facing Wales is missing because the inhabitants of Chester "would not give the welsh the time of day" (see "Shoot the Welsh"). The Cloth Hall in Ypres (built in 1260, destroyed in WW1 and rebuilt in 1934), upon which the Town Hall is based, also only has a clock face on three sides of the tower - however it houses an impressive carillon with 49 bells.

The Town Hall came close to not having a tower at all. Work began in 1865 and lasted some four years, prolonged by the increasingly strained relations between Corporation and Architect, and a strike. The principal difficulty was that architect Lynn's scheme cost more than the £16,000 specified by the Corporation, and although the Committee grudgingly accepted a tender of £21,610, it continued to consider various modifications, including leaving out the tower. Eventually, following strident protest by the architect the tower was included.

The actual clock is recent (having only been installed in 1980), as plans for the inital purchase of a clock (originally commisssioned by the War Office and intended for Woolwich Arsenal) were cut for cost reasons, and, upon the discovery that the clock would require an hour of winding each day. The "War-Office" clock was said to be a huge affair, with nine foot dials and "more powerful than Big Ben", and would also cost more to alter to fit the tower than the cost of a new one.

The council chamber was rebuilt to designs by Thomas Meakin Lockwood after a major fire of 1897 completely gutted it. It is panelled and contains wooden and stone carvings. The council chamber clock was presented to the city by then major, silk-mercer J. G. Holmes (whose wife had the surname Watson) during the restoration work. Holmes is the same mayor whose name appears on the Eastgate Clock, but the initials vary with "J.C." being often recorded as what is written on the Eastgate Clock and "J.G." in the Town Hall council chamber. He was in fact "John Goodie Holmes" accord to his obituary in the Courant (10th April 1907), and, careful inspection of the Eastgate Clock reveals that the letter is a "G" and not a "C"

The ceremony for the clock in the council chamber attracted almost as much ceremony as that of the Eastgate Clock:




 * "The MAYOR said before proceeding to the ordinary business of the Council, he might be permitted to congratulate them on being able to hold their meetings in the Council Chamber as formerly. They had suffered considerable inconvenience and discomfort during the restoration, but now it was completed and very much improved and adorned, in fact, he believed it was one of the most beautiful council chambers in the kingdom. (Hear, haar.) He sure they should all appreciate and highly cherish it. If they would kindly allow him, he would have great pleasure in presenting to them, and through them to the citizens, the clock which had been placed in the screen at the other end of the room (below the gallery), and which had been specially made to harmonise with its surroundings, and was of the best English workmanship. (Applause.) During their debates it would remind them of the lapse of time, and every half-hour it would gently warn them that time still rolled its ceaseless course. He hoped they would do him the honour of accepting the clock. (Applause.) Sir THOMAS FROST said it was with the greatest pleasure that he rose to propose that the best thanks of the Council be given to the Mayor for the very handsome gift he had just presented to them, and which he was sure would be highly appreciated by all of them. Alderman CHARLES BROWN heartily seconded the proposition, and said the clock was a very handsome present. The motion having been carried with ap- plause, the MAYOR briefly expressed his acknowledgments."

On display in the Mayor's Parlour at the Town Hall is a clock, carved to resemble the west front of Chester Cathedral, it is one of six similar clocks presented to HMS Chester by the citizens of Chester in May 1916.

The "Skelly 'Orse"
A grocer's yard in Princess Street was once home to a curious clock decorated with the skeleton of a horse. This was something of an attraction to race-goers who would visit the yard prior to going down to the racecourse in the expectation that it would bring them luck. The bones of the horse are believed to be buried nearby. There is a connection between George Dutton and the Morelands, which makes it possible that the clock associated with the horse was by Moreland. The 1851 census gives the members of Morelands household in Northgate street, St. Oswalds, Chester as Thomas Moreland (head, 51, Clock Maker employing 2 men and 1 apprentice, born Chester), Marey Moreland (wife, 51, born Duddlestone, Ellesmere, Salop), Sarah Moreland ( daughter, 24, Dressmaker, born Chester), Joseph Finchett (lodger, 32, Grocer, born Kelsall, Cheshire) and George Dutton, (lodger, 21, Grocer, born Clotton Hoofield, Tarvin). The 1871 census gives George Dutton as living at 100 Eastgate Row (head, 41, Grocer employing 9 men and 5 boys, born Clotton Hoofield, Cheshire) - although the number must be a mistake as Eastgate Row is too short to go up to 100. Clearly George Dutton of the Eastgate Street grocery, whose warehouse held the horse skeleton, is the same George Dutton who was living with the Morelands back when he was an apprentice. By 1891 the Duttons were doing very well and living at 13 Curzon Park.

Back in 1861 one or other of the George Duttons (father and son both ran the grocery store at various times) decided he was going to improve his premises at 25 Eastgate Street. During excavations for new cellars a Roman altar was found under 13 feet of earth and George decided to use this as the basis of his registered trademark, with 'Sigarro' being a word devised from abbreviated Latin - Sig (short for signum - a sign), Ar (abbreviation of arae - an altar) and Ro (Romani - Roman). Sig-Ar-Ro - The Sign of the Roman Altar. It was used on tins of Meths.



Market Hall
From 1863 to 1967 Chester had a large public clock on the front of the Market Hall next to which the Town Hall was later built. This beautiful baroque building was demolished to make way for one of the ugliest architectural horrors ever conceived, destroying some unique Roman remains in the process.

The clock on the front of the building was again made by Thomas Moreland, the noted Chester clock-maker (CCF/19/5/24) as mentioned several times in this article. However it was not up to the standard of his other works, and became something of a local joke due to its tendency to slow down. The reason for this may well have simply been the size of the clock and the fact that it had very large hands that would would have been subjected to variations of effective weight due to snow, wind and rain. The fate of the Market Hall clock after the building was demolished remains a mystery, and it would be interesting to know what became of it.

Eastmans' Clock
All that remains of Eastman's today is its clock. This was of some use to the inhabitants of Chester after the Market Hall clock was removed and before the Town hall was provided with a clock, given that there were a number of bus stops in the Market Square.

The importation of meat from North America to Britain started in the 1860s and accelerated in the 1870s as refrigeration improved. One of the leading shippers was Timothy C. Eastman (1821-93) who owned a huge abattoir, or ‘killing yard’, in New York. From around 1875 he exported large quantities of ‘dead’ (that is, frozen) American beef to England. Spearheading the sale of imported dead meat within Britain, the brothers Henry and James Bell set up a chain of butcher’s shops in 1879. Ten years later they controlled 330 shops which traded as The American Fresh Meat Co. or Hill & Dale Ltd. The Bells’ target clientele was the working class, which benefited from the availability of cheap foreign meat. In June 1889 they set up Eastmans Ltd., with Lord Greville as Chairman. This new venture incorporated Timothy and Joseph Eastmans’ company, and appropriated their name. In 1900, however, with interest in other markets – primarily Argentina and Australia for beef and New Zealand for lamb – growing (and America becoming correspondingly less competitive), Eastmans Ltd. liquidated the American company.



In 1903 Eastmans Ltd. had 205 retail shops and cold stores capable of holding 310,000 carcasses of mutton; by 1912 the number of shops had risen to 1,400. The five years preceding the Great War, however, were lean years for the imported meat trade, due to rising prices and slack demand. For Eastmans Ltd., the war proved disastrous. Between 1914 and 1917, 495 shops closed. Most of the employees joined the forces, supplies were disrupted, and turnover was greatly reduced. In August 1920, while Eastmans was recovering from this setback, the Vestey Brothers, owners of the Union Cold Storage Co., stepped in and bought the company. The Union Cold Storage Co. had been founded in 1897 and established the Blue Star Line in 1911. By 1923 it had 51 cold stores and freezing works abroad and at home, and a large fleet of refrigerated vessels. Beef was imported from Argentina and lamb from New Zealand; Australia was another important market. In 1923 the firm acquired the British & Argentine Meat Co. Ltd. (which had been formed in March 1914 through an amalgamation of two other chains of butchers’ shops: James Nelson & Sons Ltd. [with 1,000 shops] and George Drabble’s River Plate Meat Co. [with 440 shops]). The Vesteys now controlled 2,400 ‘retail shops, depots and market stalls in this country’, as well as factories and wholesalers. Other chains acquired by the Vesteys in 1923 included W. & R. Fletcher Ltd., the Argenta Meat Co. Ltd., and J. H. Dewhurst. Ultimately, it was the Dewhurst brand (and its equivalent Alex Munro in Scotland) that came to dominate British shopping streets into the 21st century. Dewhurst’s had been founded in Southport, Lancashire, by John Henry Dewhurst. In 1977 there were 1,400 Dewhurst shops in the UK, and in 1980 they were rebranded as ‘Dewhurst The Master Butcher’. There were just 360 branches, however, by March 1995, when the company went into receivership along with its holding company, Union International. A management buy-out allowed the company to limp on for a few more years. In 2005 Dewhurst was bought by West Country butcher Lloyd Maunder. A year later Dewhurst closed 60 shops and called in the administrators to help sell the remaining 35.

By 1959 the premises had been taken over by "George Oliver" and there have been frequent changes of occupancy since. However, despite all these changes, the clock has now remained for well over a century.



Cathedral
While the Cathedral tower does not have a clock face it does contain a clock. This was used to operate the bells before all but one were removed to the external bell-tower. The inventory of the cathedral goods taken at the time of the Reformation mentions a clock, but gives no information on it other than the fact that it existed. It may have operated bells as it mentioned next to bells in the listing.

The clockwork is one of the many interesting things which can be seen on the "Cathedral at hight" tour. It is perhaps the only place in Chester where a turret clock mechanism can be examined without taking your life in your hands. A turret clock can have one, two, or three trains of gears; the whole set of gears is contained in a frame of iron. The first is called the "going train" and this drives the hands to tell the time. The "striking train" strikes the hour and the chiming train sounds the quarter hours. Each train is driven by a weight on the end of a steel line which is wound up round a wooden or metal barrel. On the end of each barrel is a "square" on to which the winding handle fits. Since some clock weights can be more than half a ton, winding a turret clock manually can be very hard work. One reason for the separate gear systems is to ensure that the clockwork which moves the hands is independent from that which operates the chimes, so that accurate time is maintained.

Starting with the going train, the barrel has on it a large wheel called the great wheel, this drives a train of gears which could number two, three or four, depending on the design of the clock or how long it runs for. Each wheel is mounted on an arbor, the term for an axle, the pivots rotate in brass bushes, and the small gears are known as pinions. In most going trains there is one wheel called the centre wheel which rotates once per hour. The last wheel in the going train, and the smallest, is called the escapement wheel or the escape wheel for short. This wheel rotates a lot faster than the others, usually about once or twice a minute, and is linked to the pendulum through the escapement, a device which allows one tooth of the wheel to escape for every swing of the pendulum. It is this mechanism which makes a clock tick. Without the escapement the trains of gears would run unchecked. So, as the pendulum beats time it controls the speed at which the escape wheel rotates, and hence through the train of gears with the appropriate numbers of teeth, it allows the centre wheel to turn once in an hour.

A pendulum swings with a regular number of beats per minute, the number depending only on the length of the pendulum and not on the weight. A pendulum about 39 inches long makes one swing in one second, but a pendulum about 14 feet long takes two seconds to make a single swing. In turret clocks most pendulums are somewhere between these two lengths. To reduce variations in timekeeping due to changes in length, caused by changes in temperature, some clocks have compensation pendulums. These are constructed using several different types of metal so that the pendulum remains the same length at different temperatures. Pendulums which have rods made of wood perform very well in different temperatures, but ones just of steel are not so good. Some clocks, such as the one in the Cathedral, have a third weight and train of gears enabling the clock to sound every quarter of an hour; this is called the quarter or chiming train. As this has even more work to do, its driving weight is typically the largest of the three clock weights. Popular chimes are those used in Big Ben or "ting-tangs" can be sounded on two bells which is called quarter striking. The quarter train is almost identical to a striking train, here the main difference is the number of bell-hammers it operates.

There are a few other public clocks in Chester, such as at Holy Trinity and even the odd clock tower dotted around the suburbs.

Clockmaking in Chester


The beginning of English domestic clock making in volume dates from the late 16th century, and was possibly stimulated by the emigration of Huguenot clock and watchmakers to London. The first English domestic clock was the lantern clock, made in London from c.1600 onwards. Some Hugenot's are known to have moved to Chester. No 72 Northgate Street has a raking full-width dormer with horizontally-sliding sashes. These may be "weavers' windows" - large horizontal windows on the top floor of a dwelling that allowed the residents light to weave. Weavers' windows are associated with the Hugenot migration to Britain and Ireland, and it is known that while many Hugenot's migrated through Chester to Ireland, some settled here, in the only Hugenot settlement in the north of England. Curiously 72 Northgate street may be close to, or on the site of where clockmaker Sarah Moreland would later live and work. The Hugenots also seen to have been associated with the non-conformists of which Sarah was a member and who also had links to the Vambrugh's of Weaver Street.

Chester and nearby Wrexham became important centers for clockmaking by the late 17 century. Wrexham had a long tradition of metalworking and its blacksmiths, gunsmiths, bucklers and needlemakers possessed the metal working skills and the necessary understanding of mathematics and science required to manufacture clocks. Chester was perhaps as important for the working of certain base metals as it was for the working of gold and silver. Certainly Chester was a centre for pewterers and brassfounders, and it had its own Company of Smiths, Cutlers and Plumbers (which would have included the brass-workers).

The raw materials were easily available: brass for the dials from the foundries of Chester and Warrington and lead for the weights from Minera. Castings for the works could be sourced from the many local foundries. Wrexham and Chester were each a bustling market town, home to a prosperous gentry and a regular haunt of dealers and businessmen from across North Wales. These were the kind of people who wanted the 18th century’s ultimate middle class status symbol - a "long case" clock of their own.

In October 1666 the minute book of the Goldsmiths mentions "the Companye of Goldsmyths and Watchmakers", and that in 1664 a watchmaker (John Buck) had been elected steward with Thomas Wright, also a watchmaker as a witness. From the distribution of monies from the Owen Jones charity in 1701 we know that there were eleven goldsmiths and watchmakers in the company. Undoubtedly, there were other clockmakers who chose not to join the Company/Guild.

All manner of clocks were made in Chester. The church clock at Little Budworth was made by Smith of Chester under an agreement which specified:


 * "It is agreed this 18th day of April 1727, between John Egerton Esqre, and Mr Joseph Smith, Clockmaker, of Gloverstone in Chester. The said Mr Smith for and in consideration of Ten Pounds, shall make a large substantial church clock to go a week, for Little Budworth, and to have strong Brass wheels, and all the other work to be firm and substantial, and to strike as loud as any week clock shall doe"

The current clock face at Little Budworth bears the date 1785, so it is not certain whether the just face was replaced or the whole clockwork in that year.



One noted family of chockmakers were the Wrenches. John Wrench was admitted to the Freedom of the city in 1690 (ZA/F/45b/56). This family also had considerable interest in the Dee Mills. In 1743 Edward Wrench bought a three-fifths share, acquired a fourth share in 1753 and bought out the reserved rent due to the Cottons in 1776. The mills burned down in 1789, but were rebuilt and extended soon afterwards by E. O. Wrench. They were advertised for sale in 1807, but evidently remained unsold, for in 1808 Wrench purchased the fifth and final share. The property was again advertised for sale in 1811, when it comprised "18 pair of stones, suitable warehouses, drying kilns, [and] complete machinery". It was burned down again in 1819 and rebuilt, and in 1830 contained 22 pairs of stones, let to several tenants by E. O. Wrench the younger. In 1885 Alderman William Johnson acquired a share in the mills from the Wrench family, and, after yet another fire in 1895, the whole property was purchased by the corporation. The buildings were used for storage until they were finally demolished in 1910.

Illustrated om the left is a rather clever bedroom clock from Wrench. This has bells, but does not chime unless a string is pulled, at which point it will repeat the last chime to the nearest quarter hour. Hence, the clock would not disturb sleep but still allows the time to be told, even in the dark. Bishop of Chester John Wilkins describes such clever devices in his book including one which "though it were but two or three inches big, yet would both wake a man and of itself light a candle for him at any set hour of the night", and another in the form of an ear-ring "where the striking of the minutes may constantly whisper unto us, how our lives do slide away".

Thomas Brown is listed as a clock and watchmaker working in Northgate Street Chester 1766 - 1784 and in Stockport from 1795 - 1801. He is listed in another source as also working in Chester until 1812 which means he was operating in two locations. He was granted the Freedom of Chester in 1766. Brown evidently went bankrupt as in 1780 three notices appeared in the Courant:


 * "11th April 1780: Notice to Creditors - Whereas THOMAS BROWN of the City of Chester, clock and watchmaker, hath lately assigned over his effects to his brother, Mr William Brown, and Mr John Cooke, of the same city, cabinet maker, in trust for the equal benefit of all his creditors who shall accent their respective proportions of the said effects, in discharge of the debts due to them from the said THOMAS BROWN. Notice is hereby given that such of the creditors as have not already signed the deed, may sign the same at Mr Cross's office in Chester and at the same time deliver in an account of the debts due on them. And all persons indebted to the said Thomas Brown at the time of making the assignment, are desired to pay their debts immediately to the said William Brown or Mr Cooke."


 * "13th June 1780: To be sold by auction - Mr Thomas Brown at his house in Northgate Street. The stock in trade, consisting of several clocks in mahogany and oak cases, silver and metal watches, with a variety of articles of the above trade."


 * "4th July 1780: THOMAS BROWN, Watch and Clockmaker most respectfully informs his friends and the public that he continues to carry on the above business at his shop in Northgate Street Row in this city where he humbly submits their encouragement and favours which he will endeavour to merit by a strict and faithful attention to their commands and by executing every order with neatness, punctuality and on the most reasonable terms. NB: During the fair will be sold at prime cost a large assortments of clocks, silver and pinchbeck watches, watch glasses ,seals and chains, watch hands, pendants etc. "

Half-way from Brown's department store to the High Cross is a shop doorway marked (on the step at Row level) as "Brown's Jewelers". The firm of G.J.H. Brown and Son Ltd., originally known as Brown Brothers, was established in 1859. It is not know whether it had anything to do with the department store Brown's but Thomas Brown, the once bankrupt watchmaker did. He was the brother of shoemaker William Brown (Alderman 1733) whose son was John Brown, formerly a Chester druggist and founder of "Brown's of Chester".

Related Pages

 * Chester Market;
 * Town Hall;
 * St Peter;
 * Leadworks;
 * Chester Station;
 * Hilbre Island;
 * St John's Hospital;
 * Gloverstone;
 * Eastgate;

Online

 * A Turret Clock Handbook;
 * Thomas Hampson;
 * A list of books;
 * List of UK Clock and watchmakers;

Print Books

 * “Compendium of Chester Gold & Silver Marks 1570-1962”, Maurice H. Ridgway & Philip T. Priestley (Antique Collectors Club Ltd, England, 2004)
 * Chester Clock and Clockmakers, Nicholas Moore (Chester Museum, 1976)
 * The Gloverstone Clockmakers of Chester, S. & D. Thomas (2012)