Object Literature
Early domestic clocks, like turret clocks, were driven by suspended weights, and this technology eventually led to the long-case clock (or grandfather clock) of the seventeenth century. Until that time clocks in most houses were confined to the nobility; ordinary people were dependent on sundials, or the tower clocks of local churches. The point of the hook-and-spike clock was to keep its price below that of a lantern clock, down to a level that could be afforded by those not affluent enough to buy a costlier type.
Made from the late seventeenth century, many of these types of clocks were rustic affairs made by country clocksmiths mostly in the southern half of England, who would often leave their work unsigned – for the very good reason that they might take their products to sell in local market towns contrary to by-laws, and the absence of a maker’s name made it harder to track down the culprits.
Wonderfully evocative of the early Georgian taverns, probably a unique clock and a beautiful one to look upon.