Gabriel Smith also made lantern, bracket, and 30 hour clocks. He made and repaired several turret clocks for local churches in the surrounding area. He was not only a clockmaker of high quality clocks but also described as a bellfounder, carpenter and millwright.
The most well-known of all local clockmakers, he started making clocks in his native village of Barthomley before moving to Nantwich in 1722. Some examples are housed in a fine walnut marquetry case Gabriel Smith 1722-1743 The earliest known Nantwich maker, he produced longcase clocks of high quality using 11 and 12 inch brass dials with plain matted centre, ringed winding holes and fine engraving around the square date aperture. This page includes the main clockmakers from this survey. Nevertheless, a total of over 120 clocks were catalogued and a further exhibition of clocks with the catalogues was held at the Museum that same year.
Virtually all of the clocks were photographed in situ in people’s homes and without the benefit of a photographic studio, the resulting pictures were not always as good as one would have liked.
Photographs were taken of the clock with a close-up of the dial features wherever possible. In 2001, a survey was undertaken to catalogue more fully, the number of known Nantwich clocks. In this catalogue he lists over 100 clock and watchmakers and journeymen who were involved in making and retailing in the town. It is interesting to note that no two clocks are the same and even those produced by the same maker show a remarkable diversity.Īt the present time there is just one publication referring to Nantwich clockmakers and that is a catalogue written by Alan Treherne for Nantwich Museum and produced for an exhibition of Nantwich clocks in the mid 1980s at the Museum. This section deals primarily with the 8day longcase clock, but there may be occasional references to other types of clock, such as lantern and bracket clocks. It is a tribute to the skill and craftsmanship of the Nantwich makers that so many have survived in good working order to the present day, and the pleasure from owning such a remarkable piece of local workmanship is immeasurable.
The best of these are undoubtedly Nantwich clocks, of which there are many fine examples. There are very few items of known Nantwich provenance made over 200 or 300 years ago which still survive to the present day. Both men made lantern clocks, the earliest type of domestic clock made and used in the provinces, and longcase clocks. The most important early turret clock makers in the Nantwich area seem to have been Gabriel Smith at Barthomley (and later of Nantwich) and Thomas Swinnerton at Newcastle-under-Lyme. From 1680 to 1720 this population supported 2 to 3 clock or watchmakers, from 1720 to 1750 6 to 8, from 1750 to 1170 14 to 15, from 1770 to 1800 18 to 20, from 1800 to 1820 15 to 16, from 1820 to 1850 9 to 12 and for the second half of the 19th century 7 to 10. It is remarkable that at least 100 clock and watchmakers worked or traded in Nantwich before 1900, given that its total population was only of the order of 2,500 at the beginning of the l8th century and, according to official census returns, had increased to only about 3,500 in 1801, 5,500 in 1841 and 7,500 in 1881.
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