A Late 18thC Painted Eight-Day Longcase Clock by William Jones of Abingdon c.1790

Origin: English
Period: George III
Provenance: Unknown
Date: c.1790-1800
Height: 78”
Depth: 9.5”
Width: 17”

The late eighteenth century painted pine long case clock by William Jones of Abingdon, having an eight day movement, striking on a bell (see video), under a pagoda top and columned flanks, the silvered dial signed and surviving from Georgian period England.

The clock is in desirable original untouched order and proves hugely decorative and attractive as is to look at but to function as intended it requires some restoration, which we can administer if so desired at cost with our local clock restorer. The whole is currently not running and the movement is untested. The lock and key are present and working to the door. The weights are lacking.

The longcase clock, also known as the grandfather clock after the popular Victorian song, was the product of two pan-European horological breakthroughs of the late 1650s – the application of the pendulum clock and the invention of the so-called anchor escapement. First used in clockmaking by the Dutchman Christiaan Huygens in 1656, the pendulum made for near frictionless time-keeping, while it was the anchor mechanism (probably invented around the same time by British scientist Robert Hooke) reduced the swing and improved accuracy.
The need to protect the movement within a high case to house the heavy drive weights, and soon afterwards a long pendulum that beat once every second, led to a style of clock that remained popular for more than two centuries.

Abingdon has a history of clockmaking, with notable figures like John Harding and Thomas Denton, known for crafting longcase clocks,  We know that William Jones died in 1804 and was the father to John Jones who also went on to be a clock maker.

A hugely decorative clock that could be restored but remains a work of art in itself appealing as a piece of vernacular furniture and folk art.