Turret clock from Moor House, Larden Hall, 1600-1699.

This 17th century oak-framed turret clock salvaged in the 1950's when it was discarded from Larden Hall, Shipton, a few miles from Bridgnorth, a 17th century manor house that was demolished in 1968. It is likely that it had been made locally, for Larden Hall - it is marked with the initials E.I., possibly by the maker. Originally, it would have had a verge and foliot escapement, and was converted to the newly introduced anchor escapement sometime during its early life. It never had a dial, but struck the hours on a bell. A rare and  important  survivor....another very similar clock, from Onibury church, probably by the same maker, and with the same conversion to an anchor escapement, is in storage at the Oxford Museum of Science. They are two of the earliest clocks in England - it seems that there was a clockmaker working in rural South Shropshire in those days, capable of producing what was then very sophisticated machinery...