Joseph Smiths Turret Clocks

The Turret Clocks
of
JOSEPH SMITH
of
Chester
1725 — 1755

Joseph Smith’s turret clocks
Location Date Still working in
original location?
Chester Cathedral 1725 Now in a private
collection
St Michael’s Church, Shotwick 1726 Yes
Features of interest
Three train ting tang clock
1¼ second pendulum
St Peter’s Church, Little Budworth 1727 Yes Much of the original documentation
survives.
Fine small clock in good condition
St Lawrence’s Church, Stoak 1732 Not working when we
Single hander
visited but appears to
be complete
St John’s Church, Chester 1746 Replaced Three train movement
Now in a private collection
The ‘Rescued clock’ - Not working.
Three train ting tang clock
In a private collection
St Mary’s Church, Tilston 1750 Yes Fine small clock in good condition.
St Nicholas’ Church, Burton 1751 Yes Single hander
St Mary’s Church, Mucklestone - Yes Much altered
St Alban’s Church, Tattenhall - Yes Maybe Joseph/Gabriel(1) Smith
Poulton Hall 1755 Moved a short
distance
Still owned by the same family.
Single hander
Adlington Hall 1755 Replaced but safely
All clock parts retained
stored
Pengwern Hall - Not working when we
visited but apparently
Requires some restoration
Single hander
complete
Whitmore Hall - Rusted up Still in original location

Chester Cathedral Clock 1725
When Joseph Smith arrived in Chester, there was already a clock in the cathedral, which was wound and
maintained by Charles Whitehead, smith and mason of the city. In September 1724, the cathedral accounts book
lists £0 5s 0d spent ‘at Bargaining for a new Church clock’. This may well have been a meeting between Joseph
Smith and the cathedral authorities, at which the clock was offered as a ‘master piece’. No records of any monies
spent on acquiring the clock have yet been found, which could indicate that it was made as a gift. Towards the
end of the following year James Comberbach, timber merchant, was paid £2 11s 0d ‘for timber for ye clock case’
and two months later Charles Whitehead received his final payment of £0 8s 0d for ‘tending ye old clock’.
Even though religious communities relied on their clocks to timetable their lives and services, clocks were not
highly valued. They are rarely mentioned in church histories, whereas bells are described in detail. The cathedral
archives have been only partially indexed. The four account books contain the only known records relating to Joseph
Smith’s clock that were written during his lifetime. All the available indexes have been searched for other
references to the clock. It was customary for a clockmaker to commit to maintain a turret clock during his lifetime.
This was certainly the case with the cathedral clock. Joseph Smith was paid annually, usually at Michaelmas,
for maintenance of the clock. The annual salary for the job was £0 16s 0d and remained unchanged from 1727
until 1766.

Chester Cathedral Clock 1725 p2
The payment was increased occasionally if repairs were required, for example one of the bells was sent to
London for re-casting during the 1730s; on 18 th December 1738-9, after the bell’s return this entry was put
in the accounts book: ‘To Mr Smith for cleaning and regulating the clock after the Great Bell was put up -
£0 9s 0d.’
Joseph Smith’s connection with the cathedral was made even closer when he sent his boys to the King’s
School. The school was founded by King Henry VIII in 1541 following the dissolution of St Werburgh's
Abbey, which became Chester Cathedral. It was housed in the former monastic refectory for most of the
next 400 years. It was to have twenty-four poor and friendless boys aged between nine and fifteen. The
boys, usually termed King's Scholars, were elected by competitive examination and received a free
education and an allowance. The ‘poor and friendless’ requirement must have been less stringently
enforced as the years passed. Joseph’s eldest son, John was first listed as a King’s Scholar in the account
book in 1733, followed by Gabriel(2) in 1735, Thomas in 1737 and Samuel in 1742. It is not known how
long the boys attended the school, but Samuel was still there in 1745.
In October 1744 Thomas was paid the year’s salary for taking care of the clock and the following year, Mrs
Smith collected her husband’s salary. Payments to Joseph then continued until 1763, when Gabriel(2) was
paid ‘his year’s salary’. After that time, Joseph was paid for three more years, the final payment to him
being on 4 th April 1766. John Smith continued the maintenance of the clock until his last salary was paid on
9 th November 1781.
The Smith clock continued in service until 1872/3 when it was replaced by a flatbed Westminster chiming
clock made by JB Joyce & Co. of Whitchurch. Like its predecessor, the Joyce clock had no dial, but simply
told the time by full quarter chiming and striking the hours. At the time of the clock’s installation, the 1867
carillon was re-sited. It lessened the job of the bellringers, by playing the first lead of Bob Triples. The
Joyce clock and carillon were themselves superseded by an electric chiming mechanism which was
installed in the new Addleshaw Bell Tower when it was completed in 1975.

Chester Cathedral Clock 1725 p3
The Smith clock was auctioned by Christies in their sale of ’Important Clocks’ on 7th December 2005.
The catalogue stated:
A GEORGE 1 IRON AND BRASS THREE TRAIN POSTED FRAME TURRET CLOCK
DATED 1725.
JOSEPH SMITH
With in-line trains having rectangular section posts with splayed feet and bolted frame, oak
barrels, turned iron collets, the going train with recoil anchor escapement, the quarter strike
train in the centre with brass countwheel and internal brass fly, square brass signature plaque
applied to the centre post engraved Joseph Smith Chester 1725, the hour strike train on the left
side with iron countwheel and external fly with iron vanes.
THE FRAME: 15½in x 14in x 25in (39.5cm x 36cm x 63.5cm)
Three train turret clocks from this period are particularly rare. The present example has the
added rarity of having the going train on the right side as opposed to the normal position
between the quarter and hour trains.
This clock has no ‘drive-off’, so has never driven a dial, indicating time by its strike and ting-tang
quarters. Originally its pendulum was wall mounted.
The clock has returned to Chester and is in a private collection.

St Michael’s Church, Shotwick, Cheshire, 1726
In 1726, Joseph was approached by the
churchwardens of St Michael’s Church, Shotwick, a
small village north west of Chester. A new clock was
required to replace an old, unreliable one in the
tower.
The sturdy, small, two train movement driving a
single dial on the south side of the tower and striking
the hours on a large bell is now electrically autowound.
In common with the cathedral clock and all
the turret clocks he produced afterwards, this clock
has a detached, wall mounted pendulum.
On the clock frame is a brass plaque bearing the following inscription in cursive script:
Tho Aston minister
Geo Roe John Coxon
Churchwardens 1726
Joseph Smith
Chester
The Churchwardens’ Accounts for 1726 record,
‘Mr Smith of Glovers Stone for ye Church Clock
£10 10s and for ye large stone weight 5s and allowed
him for ye old Church Clock [Total] £10 0 0’.

St Peter’s Church, Little Budworth, Cheshire, 1727/8
In 1727, Joseph received a
commission from St Peter’s Church,
Little Budworth.
‘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
other work to be firm and
substantial, and to strike as
loud as any week clock shall
doe.’
The face was to be three feet square
with black characters on a white
background though there had been
an option for a face of two feet
square of gilt and gold. It was also
agreed that the parish would find the
stones for the weights and a
carpenter to set up the clock with
boards for a case. Apparently there
had been an earlier clock as Joseph
Smith was allowed to have the
materials from it.
The clock was to be ready by
midsummer the following year. In
addition to his payment, Joseph was
to have 2s 6d a year to keep the clock
in repair. The present dial is dated
1785; this may have replaced the one
installed when the clock was made, or
it may have been simply re-painted
later in the century.
The clock is on the south face of the
tower.

St Lawrence’s Church, Stoak, Cheshire, 1732
A little north of Chester, is the small hamlet of Stoak.
Joseph Smith made a clock for St Lawrence’s church
in 1732.
The movement is built to the Smith pattern, but its
dial, mounted on the west face of the tower, is single
-handed.
A plaque on the frame records in cursive script:
JOHN WILLIAMSON AND CHARLES HILL
CHURCH WARDENS
AP YE 14 1732
JOSEPH SMITH
FECIT

St John’s Church, Chester, 1746
Detail from: St John’s Church, Chester from the Queen’s Park’,
drawn, engraved and published by J. Romney, 1853.
It is likely that Joseph Smith made clocks for many of the village churches around Chester, and for some
of the ancient parish churches in the city. Unfortunately Victorian restorations swept away many of
Cheshire’s first turret clocks. Joseph Smith met with the church wardens of St John’s early in 1745 to
discuss the possibility of his making a clock for the church; the church wardens’ accounts record £0 1s
6d spent on Mr Smith at the meeting. A few weeks later, £0 2s 6d was paid to Joseph Smith in part
payment for the clock and by the end of the year a further £15 was received in full payment .
Unfortunately no description of the clock has been found. Joseph Smith received £1 in May 1746 ‘for ye
Watch’; this was an internal clock for the benefit of the clergy. Records survive of a £20 bond outlining,
in effect, a maintenance contract for the new clock:
Date 29 th May 1746. 1 Joseph Smith of Gloverstone, clockmaker, 2 Thomas Gorbin and William Jones,
churchwardens. For performance of agreement viz. that I shall every week wind up the new clock and
the watchpiece to be fixed in the church, and clean the same whenever necessary, for 10s. per annum.
Wit: Tho. Patten, W. Fairclough.
Joseph Smith was then paid annually, usually in April or May, his sum of ten shillings, augmented
occasionally by extra payments, for example in October 1749, when he was paid three shillings for
‘altering the watch’. Payments were for winding and cleaning, as required; there was little maintenance,
just new weight ropes, some wire and a new weight, which cost £0 2s 6d. It is not clear when Joseph
Smith stopped winding the clock; the last entry to record ‘Joseph’ was for the year ended March 1764.
For 1765, 1766 and 1768, the book has simply, ‘Mr Smith’. At the end of 1770, Joseph’s son, John Smith,
received the annual salary. He continued to wind and repair the clock until replaced by Robert Cawley(2)
or (3) in 1781.

St John’s Church, Chester, 1746, page 2
St John’s was the ancient cathedral church
which lost its status following the dissolution of
St Werburgh’s Abbey. As early as the fourteenth
century there were worries about the decay of
the red sandstone from which it was
constructed. The church suffered many
disasters. The central tower fell down twice: in
1468 and 1572, to be followed in 1574 by the
collapse of the west tower, which was rebuilt
later the same century. In 1860, in a report on
the whole building's condition, it stated,
"there is little chance of the repair of
the fine tower [ie. the west tower],
which is now in a very shattered and
decayed state..."
The west tower collapsed on Good Friday, 1881
after many warnings. Most of the bells were
rescued and it is possible that the Joseph Smith
clock was also removed to a place of safety. The
tower was never rebuilt on the old footprint and
only the old ‘stump’ remains. Chester architect
John Douglas designed the present north east
belfry tower in 1886 and a clock was placed
there by JB Joyce and Co. in time for Queen
Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
Above:
The tower on the morning of
the fall, 15 April 1881.
Cheshire Archives ZCR
119/1079/131
Left:
This clock was found ready to
the scrapped in a street in
Chester. It was rescued by its
current owner. It may be the
clock which was once in
St John’s Church.

St Mary’s Church, Tilston, Cheshire, 1750
The small village of Tilston,
some thirteen miles south of
Chester has a clock by
Joseph Smith in the parish
church of St Mary, operating
a single dial on the north
side of its tower.
Tilston’s first clock, by an
unknown maker, had been
made in 1733 at a cost of
£11. It did not perform well
so a replacement was
agreed in 1750. Joseph
Smith’s small turret clock
which has given, to date,
270 years of service, cost
only £5 3s 0d including the
lead weight.
A small circular plaque
records:
JOHN BARKER JOHN JONES
CH:WARDENS 1750
JOSEPH SMITH
CHESTER FECIT’.
In 1784, Mr Enoch Auchison
was paid £3 19s 0d for work
on the clock. It cost 3s to
carry the clock to him in
Nantwich. In 1812, Mr
Thomas Joyce of Whitchurch
was paid 15s for cleaning
and repairing the clock. Thos
Caldecott was also paid 11s
for cleaning it that year.

St Nicholas’ Church, Burton, Wirral, 1751
A similar clock to that at Tilston, but driving only one
hand on its single dial, was made for St Nicholas’
Church, Burton, Wirral a year later. The style of the
hand is very similar to that on the Stoak clock made
almost twenty years earlier. Its movement is laid out in
the familiar Smith style. This clock also bears a circular
plaque, this time recording:
‘JOHN COOPER SAM L LITTLER CH;WARDENS 1751
JOSEPH SMITH CHESTER FECIT’.
The engraving of this plaque is very similar to that on
the Tilston clock.

St Mary’s Church, Mucclestone, Staffs.
The clock in St Mary’s
Church, Mucklestone closely
resembles others by Joseph
Smith. It is much altered,
now having a pinwheel
deadbeat escapement and a
long pendulum. The latter is
offset in the Smith manner,
and passes through the floor
to the storey below. The
clock is now auto-wound.
Written records of the clock
have not been traced.

St Alban’s Church, Tattenhall, Cheshire
No records have been found concerning the
purchase or installation of the clock at St
Alban’s, Tattenhall, and its name plaque has
been lost.
Its size, layout and offset pendulum indicate it
is without doubt a Smith clock. The movement
sits in the sixteenth century tower which was
spared during the 1869 restorations.
Two of the six bells were cast by Joseph’s
father, Gabriel Smith(1), the tenor, inscribed
‘Peace and prosperity to our benefactors 1710’
and bell number five, inscribed ‘God save the
Queen, Peace and good neighbourhood 1710’.
The pendulum is much heavier and longer than
those on Joseph Smith’s clocks.
It is not implausible that the clock could have
been made by Gabriel Smith(1) at the same
time as the bells were cast.

Poulton Hall, Wirral, 1755
Joseph Smith also made turret clocks for country
houses in the locality; four have been found. The first,
dated 1755 is at Poulton Hall on the Wirral.
It was installed in an outbuilding at the hall and ran
there until 1914 when it was moved and has since been
replaced in its original cupola by an electrical
movement.
The Smith clock was moved twice more, in 1939 and
1989. Its current location is inside another outbuilding
with its single handed dial in a new cupola. The
movement is typical, of the small Joseph Smith clocks
and is in working order. Its circular brass plaque is
engraved in cursive script:
‘Edw d Green Esq 1755 Joseph Smith CHESTER Fecit.’

Adlington Hall, Cheshire, 1755
Forty-five miles from Chester, a short
distance from Macclesfield, lies the
Adlington Estate. Joseph Smith made a
clock for Adlington Hall in 1755.
This was converted to electric auto
winding during the twentieth century but
has been replaced by a synchronous
electric motor which now drives the
clock.
The Smith movement and all its
component parts have been safely stored
away. It is, like the example at Poulton
Hall, typical of Joseph Smith’s clocks.
Its plaque reads:
‘CHARLES LEGH ESQ R
JOSEPH SMITH
CHESTER FECIT 1755’

Pengwern Hall, Flintshire
We have not traced any evidence
regarding the date or maker of this
clock at Pengwern Hall, near
Rhuddlan, Flintshire, north Wales.
The estate buildings and the main
hall, now belong to Mencap which
runs one of its three national
colleges there for young people with
learning difficulties.
The single handed clock was not in
going condition when we saw it.
All the Smith design features are
present; its size, the trains and the
setting of the pendulum all closely
resemble others bearing the Smith
name.

Whitmore Hall, Staffordshire
The final clock is at Whitmore Hall in Staffordshire, but we have no confirmation that
this is a clock by Joseph Smith. It is located in an old barn at first floor level; it has
not been working for many years so much of its metalwork has rusted. In the roof of
the building is a fine cupola housing the bell and two dials. This clock is a three train
example, with the going train centrally placed between the strike and chime trains
as on the ‘rescued’ clock. Records of the clock’s purchase and installation have not
yet been traced.