Clockmakers of Northumberland and Durham - By Keith Bates
NEW
Since first publishing his book, Keith has continued to research clockmakers, who they were trained by and where they worked. He has collected valuable new information which he would now like to make available as a FREE 14-page update to the original directory. Download the addition to the directory here. |
Clockmakers of Northumberland and Durham is a 300 page book with over 170 photographs and illustrations, published in 1980. The first part of the book, comprises chapters giving background information on local clock and watchmakers. Mr. Bates shows changing styles of local makers and explains how these can, of course, be used to help date their work. The second half of the book is a directory of more than 1500 clockmakers, watchmakers, and goldsmiths who worked in Northumberland and Durham from the late sixteenth until the late nineteenth centuries, with information obtained from a variety of sources such as local newspapers, directories, reference books, and parish records.
Clockmakers of Northumberland and Durham:
£29 (plus FREE P&P to the UK or £20 to EU/USA) “In presenting Clockmakers of Northumberland and Durham, Keith Bates offers us probably the best example of area research ever to have been published. He has resisted the temptation of attempting to put too much into too few pages and the result is a heavy volume of some 300 pages in hard covers and measuring about 12in x 81/2in.
There are numerous colour and black and white photographs and line drawings and the author has adopted a policy of reproducing his pictures in large format, thus enabling the reader to study detail even when some of these photographs are not very good quality –only to be expected considering the difficulty of obtaining illustrative material. Northumberland and Durham makers may have in the past been under-rated and Keith Bates’ book does much to put matters in better perspective. A good buy for anyone who cares about clocks.” Clocks Magazine When you click the Paypal button, please choose the correct button according to where the book will be delivered to (UK or overseas) and you will be automatically transferred to your paypal account where you will be charged: £29 + FREE P&P for UK delivery or £29 + £20 for EU/USA delivery If you wish the book to be sent overseas to another part of the world, or would like to use a different method of payment, please Contact Us. |
BOOK REVIEW IN "ANTIQUARIAN HOROLOGY" FOR SEPTEMBER 1982
Keith Bates. “Clockmaker’s of Northumberland and Durham.” ISBN-0-9506935-0-2.
One of the distinctive features of horological publications over the last decade or so has been the emergence of a country-by-country coverage of clockmaking in Great Britain. The present volume forms a valuable addition to this literature. Until now historians, dealers, and collectors, of clocks and watches emanating from Northumberland and Durham have had to rely for their reference on either the general works of Baillie and Britten or on Leo Reid’s “North Country Clockmakers”, a compilation published more than half a century ago. Mr. Bates’ volume as he admits in his preface, cannot pretend to be the very last word, as new information constantly comes to light. Nevertheless it fulfils admirably its main objective, for it is the MOST COMPREHENSIVE COLLECTION OF INFORMATION ON ITS SUBJECT MATTER. The author is to be doubly congratulated, once for the energy and expertise that went into the research, and again for the enterprise which launched its result; it is the first book to be issued by his own firm, Pendulum Publications, a welcome addition to companies specialising in horological works.
The core of the book lies in its second part. This is a Directory of more than 1500 clockmakers, watchmakers, and goldsmiths ( the latter, of course, involved in the repair and retailing of timepieces) who worked in the two north-easternmost counties of England from the late sixteenth until the late nineteenth centuries. The entries vary in length from a line or so to a paragraph or two ( the most important makers, naturally, are also dealt with extensively in the text). Each entry carries a code that permits a researcher to trace the reference back to its source, which might be one or more of an impressively wide range of local newspapers, directories, reference books, and parish records. The entries are arranged alphabetically, and there is also a very useful sub-index of makers arranged by towns. To have all this valuable information in one convenient source makes the volume an important addition to any serious horological library.
The main body of the text, in the first part of the book, comprises chapters giving background information on local clock and watchmakers. With the aid of lavish illustrations Mr. Bates shows changing styles of local makers and explains how these can, of course, be used to help date their work. From diverse sources scattered information has been collected that throws light on the practices of both rural and town makers; thus we learn, for example, something about the ease and cost of entry into clockmaking, wages, merchants’ guilds, work-rules of apprentices, and also the activities of the area’s great horological pioneers such as Abraham Fromanteel and Deodatus Threlkeld. In the north-east, as elsewhere, clockmaking was often a family business, and one chapter contains extra information, with genealogical tables, about the two dozen or so of the region’s pre-eminent clockmaking families. There are also descriptions and illustrations of the kind, range and usage of horological tools. But perhaps the most interesting section is that from the Beilby and Bewick Account Books. The latter comprise a hundred separate daybooks and ledgers relating to the business established by an engraver, Ralph Beilby, and Thomas Bewick, a former apprentice, in 1777. The firm ultimately passed through several hands and produced services and products ranging from printing and engraving to watch crystals, and had extensive business links amongst clockmakers and watchmakers throughtout the north-east, Beilby and Bewick’s meticulously kept records provide valuable information about their horological clients and give clues, for example, to the output of some makers, and the trade prices of various dials. It is not the least merit of Mr. Bates’ admirable volume that he draws to our attention the importance of this unusual and rare archive.
Alun C. Davies
Keith Bates. “Clockmaker’s of Northumberland and Durham.” ISBN-0-9506935-0-2.
One of the distinctive features of horological publications over the last decade or so has been the emergence of a country-by-country coverage of clockmaking in Great Britain. The present volume forms a valuable addition to this literature. Until now historians, dealers, and collectors, of clocks and watches emanating from Northumberland and Durham have had to rely for their reference on either the general works of Baillie and Britten or on Leo Reid’s “North Country Clockmakers”, a compilation published more than half a century ago. Mr. Bates’ volume as he admits in his preface, cannot pretend to be the very last word, as new information constantly comes to light. Nevertheless it fulfils admirably its main objective, for it is the MOST COMPREHENSIVE COLLECTION OF INFORMATION ON ITS SUBJECT MATTER. The author is to be doubly congratulated, once for the energy and expertise that went into the research, and again for the enterprise which launched its result; it is the first book to be issued by his own firm, Pendulum Publications, a welcome addition to companies specialising in horological works.
The core of the book lies in its second part. This is a Directory of more than 1500 clockmakers, watchmakers, and goldsmiths ( the latter, of course, involved in the repair and retailing of timepieces) who worked in the two north-easternmost counties of England from the late sixteenth until the late nineteenth centuries. The entries vary in length from a line or so to a paragraph or two ( the most important makers, naturally, are also dealt with extensively in the text). Each entry carries a code that permits a researcher to trace the reference back to its source, which might be one or more of an impressively wide range of local newspapers, directories, reference books, and parish records. The entries are arranged alphabetically, and there is also a very useful sub-index of makers arranged by towns. To have all this valuable information in one convenient source makes the volume an important addition to any serious horological library.
The main body of the text, in the first part of the book, comprises chapters giving background information on local clock and watchmakers. With the aid of lavish illustrations Mr. Bates shows changing styles of local makers and explains how these can, of course, be used to help date their work. From diverse sources scattered information has been collected that throws light on the practices of both rural and town makers; thus we learn, for example, something about the ease and cost of entry into clockmaking, wages, merchants’ guilds, work-rules of apprentices, and also the activities of the area’s great horological pioneers such as Abraham Fromanteel and Deodatus Threlkeld. In the north-east, as elsewhere, clockmaking was often a family business, and one chapter contains extra information, with genealogical tables, about the two dozen or so of the region’s pre-eminent clockmaking families. There are also descriptions and illustrations of the kind, range and usage of horological tools. But perhaps the most interesting section is that from the Beilby and Bewick Account Books. The latter comprise a hundred separate daybooks and ledgers relating to the business established by an engraver, Ralph Beilby, and Thomas Bewick, a former apprentice, in 1777. The firm ultimately passed through several hands and produced services and products ranging from printing and engraving to watch crystals, and had extensive business links amongst clockmakers and watchmakers throughtout the north-east, Beilby and Bewick’s meticulously kept records provide valuable information about their horological clients and give clues, for example, to the output of some makers, and the trade prices of various dials. It is not the least merit of Mr. Bates’ admirable volume that he draws to our attention the importance of this unusual and rare archive.
Alun C. Davies