Clocks · Clock
Wells Cathedral clock, England, 1392
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1392
- Historical period
- Medieval Period (500 – 1400)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- England
- Object type
- Clock
- Dimensions
- overall: Height = 2400 mm x Width = 4000 mm x Depth = 2200 mm, (estimated) Weight = 2000kg
- Holding institution
- Science Museum Group, London
- Accession / object no.
- 1884-77 Pt1
- Credit line
- On loan from the Dean and Chapter of Wells Cathedral
- Catalogue title (original)
- Wells Cathedral clock, 1392
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Science Museum Group, London (object number 1884-77 Pt1), this is a clock, made in England, dated 1392. The Atlas places it in the Medieval Period period (500 – 1400) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: overall: Height = 2400 mm x Width = 4000 mm x Depth = 2200 mm, (estimated) Weight = 2000kg. The record is illustrated with 4 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Science Museum Group description
A weight-driven clock formerly in Wells Cathedral, 1392, including the following associated parts: 2 bells, small parts, a lantern pinion and an original fly from a quarter striking train. The Wells Cathedral clock is one of the oldest survivng clocks in the world: its beautifully decorated face is still in situ in the cathedral. Originally, the clock movement would have been regulated by a foliot mechanism, but, like many turret clock, it was converted to pendulum regulation at some point after 1657. Remarkably, no one knows the names of the clock's inventors or its first builders.
Historical context
Medieval Period (500 – 1400)
Su Song's astronomical tower in Song China, al-Jazari's automata, and the first European weight-driven verge clocks.
The weight-driven mechanical clock with a verge escapement appeared in Europe in the late thirteenth century. The first clocks were large iron striking clocks in monasteries, cathedrals and town towers; astronomical clocks by Richard of Wallingford and Giovanni de' Dondi showed the heavens. In China, Su Song's water-powered clock tower (1090s) used an escapement-like mechanism.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Classical Antiquity
Atlas type guide
Domestic clocks
A clock combines four systems: a source of power (falling weight, coiled spring, or later electricity), a gear train that divides time, an escapement and oscillator that regulate it (foliot, pendulum or balance), and an indicating system of dial and hands or a bell. Its history runs from the large iron weight-driven clocks of the late thirteenth century to Renaissance spring-driven table clocks, the pendulum revolution of 1656, the factory clocks of the nineteenth century and electric and quartz clocks of the twentieth.
Domestic clocks also reflect regional furniture and decorative traditions — English longcase and bracket clocks, French pendules, Viennese regulators, Black Forest and American shelf clocks — and therefore record changing tastes as much as technical progress.
What to look for
- How the clock is powered: weights, spring barrel, fusee, electric coil.
- The oscillator: foliot, short pendulum, long seconds pendulum or balance.
- Whether it strikes: hour only (count wheel) or hours and quarters (rack striking).
- The maker or retailer's name on dial and movement, and any factory trademarks.
- Signs of alteration — replaced dials, converted escapements, 'married' cases.
Dating clues
- Before 1656 clocks used foliots or balances; after, most domestic clocks have pendulums.
- Anchor escapements spread after c. 1670; minute hands became common at the same time.
- Factory production in America and Germany transformed prices after c. 1840.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
