Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. No notes or highlighting. Nice older book in good condition. signed. Year 1975. Softcover. English. See images for condition.

About the book >.>.> This book assembles and illustrates the work of 18th and 19th Century provincial clockmakers in a small community. In these times of accelerating change and dispersal it has become vital to record the lives and work of craftsmen whilst the records remain readily available and their products still in the same environment. The historical notes appearing in the text and the population figures show clearly how static Stamford remained during the 18th and 19th centuries. The industrial revolution made no impact here. Research in property deeds and social material shows clearly that leather and associated trades provided most of the town’s prosperity during this period. The delayed Enclosure Act (1870) restricted land development but only by sheer chance none of the possible boot and leather factors were ambitious to extend the scope of their manufacture and turn Stamford into another “boot town.” A remarkable result of this stasis has been the continuity of families in the same environment. The surnames and families occurring in 17th and 18th century deeds and documents relating to Stamford still persist here in the 20th century. Thus Mr. Tebbutt by diligent research has been able to locate large numbers of locally made clocks still cherished by local people. It is no chance that most of them are long case specimens. The artisan shopkeeper or farmer has always had as have we all today – a personal affection for the company of a “grandfather.” Inevitably the Stamford versions usually lack the uncluttered and sophisticated design of the London tradesman. However the remarkable example of (16) by John Wilson shows that without a price ceiling a good provincial man could produce a long case clock conforming in all respects to the best metropolitan work. Of particular interest is the evidence of the existence of local cabinet- makers specialising in the production of casework. Mr. Tebbutt has fostered the preservation of local social material over a very long period and his book will add a further valuable facet to our increasing knowledge of Stamford’s history. (LL)