John Shepley Clock

This post is by
Keith Hampson
 

I have now received my Shepley clock back all nicely cleaned and in good working order and you will see it is a fine illustration of John Shepleys work.

The dial is only 9in square which is rare for a longcase clock and usually indicates early work.The dial centre is very finely engraved with all over floral pattern reminiscent of the lantern clock made in the second half of the 17^th century.The hand which is typical of the period has the addition of a brass tip which could be a nice later feature.

The engraving is very professional and looking at the later clock owned by Peter Wattenburg it was almost certainly done by a specialist.

The dial is signed Johannes Shepley, Hyde in abbreviated form.

The most important feature is the posted type movement e.g. horizontal plates with vertical corner posts similar to the earliest domestic clock in Britain, the lantern clock which is rarely found in the North West. It was thought that most clockmakers in this area first made clocks with vertical plates and horizontal pillars which had been the norm in London for at least 20 years by the time Shepley was making clocks in the late 17^th century.

The lantern type movement is very much the order of the day but an unusual feature is the extended pillars which form legs below the lower plate similar to a lantern clock and again an early feature.John was keen to show his skill by beautifully filing the hammer spring although it would not normally be seen in a longcase clock. The bell and large hammer would ensure the chime could be heard in Yorkshire!

John Shepley clocks are often compared with those of the Whittaker brothers, James and Samuel of Middleton. The elder brother James was slightly earlier than Shepley and I believe one lantern clock by him does exist. All longcase clocks are thought to be of the plated form and I do have a longcase by Samuel. Little is known of his early life in Hyde  but it is thought that Shepley could have been apprenticed to James Whittaker before starting his business in Hyde.

To discover this clock was very exciting and it could in fact be the first clock made by John Shepley.

I spent the first eighteen years of my life in Dukinfield but I have many connections with Hyde. Sadly I did not make Hyde Grammer School for my secondary education. The first clockmaker in Dukinfield was John Taylor who could be slightly later than Shepley but his surviving clocks are scarce. When John Shepley moved to Stockport his market was much greater. I would be most interested if anyone knows of a John Taylor clock.

Thank you Keith for sharing your clock with us... it's a beauty and it is an honour to be able show it here... I hope information on a John Taylor clock is forth coming... 

John Shepley Clockmaker (2)

Hyde's Clock Maker

In December 2010 we did a post about John Shepley Clock Maker who was born and bred in Hyde. I have since then seen one of his clocks for sale on ebay and recently we have been contacted by Peter Wattenburg from the Netherlands. Peter says he saw our site and was pleased to see we had a story on John Shepley and he is interested in finding out more information. If you have any information to share on this matter I'd be very grateful, as of course would Peter.

Peter wrote the following:  I live in the Netherlands and I've collected English Long Case Clocks for more than 30 years now, As a matter of fact I have possibly the earliest known John Shepley clocks. It as a 10inch dial with the early spandrels and signed 'John Shepley Hyde'. The engraving is amateurish, so I believe John did this himself. I think on later clocks he hired a professional engraver or he learned engraving very fast. I would date this clock to around 1695 - 1700 at the time John was working in Hyde. I know of numbered clocks by him, this one dose not have a number so perhaps this was made prior to the time he started numbering?      

It looks like John tried his own engraving. Several styles of engraving are used on the dial centre. There is some sort of wriggle pattern inside the chaptering which lookes like the engraving style used by the early Quaker-clockmakers like Ogden and Gilkes family. There are some floral engraving and a nice bird. The half-hour markings on the chaptering are following the early pattern with the meeting arrow points. 

The original spandrels are also the earliest provincial cherub head spandrels.  The hand is original and has been well executed. The movement bears also the early features such as the finely ringed pillars, heavy plates and quite high in size. The clock did not use a chain but did run on ropes, the rope-spurs are still in place. All in all a nice interesting clockwork from the very early days of clock making in Hyde.

I'd like to thank Peter for sharing this 'gem' of a clock from Hyde past and hope it draws some attention from other who have such clocks and send in information concerning John Shepley or his clocks.  It would be nice to be able to feature a few more of his clocks on here.

John Shepley Clockmaker

We had an email recently asking if we had any information on a Hyde Clockmaker called John Shepley. To be honest I had not heard of him before... we know of a street named John Shepley Street but we think this relates to a later John Shepley a relation of the clockmaker. I'll quote Keith who contacted us abot John the clockmaker.

John Shepley was the first clockmaker in Hyde and little is known of his early life. He is a well respected maker and was probably working in Hyde from about 1690. The population in Hyde at that time was about 300 so he would struggle to make a living and sometime later moved to Stockport where his later clocks are signed either Johannes or John Shepley.We know that he died in 1749.

Single handed 30 hour clock by John Shepley of Stockport
Thanks to John Craik for the pictures and information
http://www.earlyclocks.co.uk/index.php

This clock, from a well respected early maker dates from about 1725 or slightly earlier. The dial measures 11 inches and is signed simply John Shepley without a placename. The typically bold northern half hour markers are floating, and the engraving around the datebox is beginning to extend outward, both indications of a slightly later date. The movement has four beautifully knopped and finned pillars, and an eight day calender wheel which is typical on 30 hour clocks from Manchester. (John Craik)

It would be interesting to find more information about Hyde's skilled clockmaker... we know he was from a well known and respected family, and it seems he could well have been born in the family home 'The Lumn' as it's documented that Richard Shepley purchased the Lumn estate from Sir Uryan Legh, of Adlington, in 1612 and it remained in the possession of the Shepleys, and his direct descendants, down to the John Shepley, who has the street named after him.

Wouldn't it be nice if someone reading this realises that the old clock handed down from granny is more than just a family heirloom, that is a bit to big for modern housing, but is also a part of Hyde's history dating back to a time when Hyde was just a small cluster of farms and folds and a certain clever chap called John Shepley was busy making these beautiful time-pieces.

Family home of the Shepleys