Industry | Clock manufacturing |
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Founded | Shropshire, England 1690 |
Founder | William Joyce |
Defunct | 2012 |
Headquarters | |
Products |
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J. B. Joyce & Co, clockmakers, were founded in Shropshire in England. The company claim to be the oldest clock manufacturer in the world, originally established in 1690, [1] and have been part of the Smith of Derby Group since 1965. [2] The claim is challenged by another English firm of clockmakers, Thwaites & Reed, who claim to have been in continuous manufacture since before 1740, with antecedents to 1610.
William Joyce began in the North Shropshire village of Cockshutt making longcase clocks. The family business was handed down from father to son and in 1790 moved to High Street, Whitchurch, Shropshire. In 1834 Thomas Joyce made large clocks for local churches and public buildings. In 1849 the company copied the Big Ben escapement designed by Lord Grimthorpe. J. B. Joyce also installed synchronous electric clocks in a number of railway stations, including Liverpool's Lime Street Station, Aberystwyth in Wales, and Carnforth in Lancashire. [3] In 1904 J. B. Joyce moved to Station Road, Whitchurch. John Edgar Howard Smith (1907–1983), a former managing director of Smith of Derby Group, designed the first and subsequent synchronous electric movements for J. B. Joyce, and their associated electro-mechanical bell striking units. [4] [5]
In 1964, Norman Joyce, the last member of the Joyce family, retired and sold the company to Smith of Derby. [6] During the 1970s, many of the mechanical clocks were changed to use the electric motors made by the Smith parent company. However, J. B. Joyce continued to operate as a separate company, with mainly heritage work being carried out in the factory up to 2012, when a timed-bid auction was held to sell off surplus equipment, tools, and clock parts, at the Station Road premises. [7] Interior designers, collectors of historic items, and aficionados of J. B. Joyce, joined to bid for a "piece of horological history". [8]
Wales
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011, it is the most populous settlement of Cheshire West and Chester and serves as its administrative headquarters. It is also the historic county town of Cheshire and the second-largest settlement in Cheshire after Warrington.
Whitchurch is a market town in the north of Shropshire, England. It lies 2 miles (3 km) east of the Welsh border, 2 miles south of the Cheshire border, 20 miles (30 km) north of the county town of Shrewsbury, 20 miles (30 km) south of Chester, and 15 miles (24 km) east of Wrexham. At the 2021 Census, the population of the town was 10,141. Whitchurch is the oldest continuously inhabited town in Shropshire. Notable people who have lived in Whitchurch include the composer Sir Edward German, and illustrator Randolph Caldecott.
The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers was established under a royal charter granted by King Charles I in 1631. It ranks sixty-first among the livery companies of the City of London, and comes under the jurisdiction of the Privy Council. The company established a library and its museum in 1813, which is the oldest specific collection of clocks and watches worldwide. This is administered by the company's affiliated charity, the Clockmakers’ Charity, and is presently housed on the second floor of London's Science Museum. The modern aims of the company and its museum are charitable and educational, in particular to promote and preserve clockmaking and watchmaking, which as of 2019 were added to the HCA Red List of Endangered Crafts.
A clockmaker is an artisan who makes and/or repairs clocks. Since almost all clocks are now factory-made, most modern clockmakers only repair clocks. Modern clockmakers may be employed by jewellers, antique shops, and places devoted strictly to repairing clocks and watches. Clockmakers must be able to read blueprints and instructions for numerous types of clocks and time pieces that vary from antique clocks to modern time pieces in order to fix and make clocks or watches. The trade requires fine motor coordination as clockmakers must frequently work on devices with small gears and fine machinery.
The Clockmakers’ Museum in London, England, is believed to be the oldest collection specifically of clocks and watches in the world. The collection belongs to and is administered by the Clockmakers’ Charity, affiliated to the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, founded in 1631 by Royal Charter. Since 2015 it has been housed in a gallery provided by the Science Museum in South Kensington, having formerly been located in the Guildhall complex in the City of London since 1874, where it first opened to the public. Admission is free.
Eastgate, Chester is a permanently open gate through the Chester city walls, on the site of the original entrance to the Roman fortress of Deva Victrix in Chester, Cheshire, England. It is a prominent landmark in the city of Chester and the Eastgate clock on top of it is said to be the most photographed clock in England after Big Ben.
Chester railway station is located in Newtown, Chester, England. Services are operated by Avanti West Coast, Merseyrail, Northern and Transport for Wales. From 1875 to 1969 the station was known as Chester General to distinguish it from Chester Northgate. The station's Italianate frontage was designed by the architect Francis Thompson.
Holyhead railway station serves the Welsh town of Holyhead on Holy Island, Anglesey. The station is the western terminus of the North Wales Coast Line 105+1⁄2 miles (170 km) west of Crewe and is managed by Transport for Wales Rail. It connects with the Port of Holyhead ferry terminal. The station is connected to the town centre by a stainless steel pedestrian/cycle bridge named The Celtic Gateway.
Whitchurch (Shropshire) railway station serves the town of Whitchurch in Shropshire, England. The station is 18¾ miles (30 km) north of Shrewsbury on the Welsh Marches Line. The station is maintained and served by Transport for Wales.
Potts of Leeds was a major British manufacturer of public clocks, based in Leeds, Yorkshire, England.
Eastgate Shopping Centre is located in Inverness, serving the largest shopping catchment area in the United Kingdom.
St John the Evangelist's Church is in Weston, once a separate village and now part of the town of Runcorn, Cheshire, England. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Frodsham. Its design has been described as "bold and original".
St Alkmund's Church is an active Anglican parish church in Whitchurch, Shropshire, England. It stands at an elevated position in the centre of the town. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England which has designated it a Grade I listed building. It is in the diocese of Lichfield, the archdeaconry of Salop and the deanery of Wem and Whitchurch.
Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy was a clockmaker, active in 18th and 19th century Britain. He succeeded his father Benjamin Vulliamy as head of the firm and Clockmaker to the Crown.
Whittington Low Level railway station is a disused station and was one of two former railway stations in the village of Whittington, Shropshire, England.
Oswestry railway station is a Grade II listed heritage railway station in Oswestry, Shropshire, England. It was closed when passenger services were withdrawn in 1966. The station building today is used as commercial premises although the Cambrian Railways Society are restoring it.
Founded in 1856, the Smith of Derby Group are clockmakers based in Derby, England. Smith of Derby has been in operation continuously under five generations of the Smith family.
The Jubilee Clock Tower, striking clock, and drinking fountain, is a Grade II listed building in the village of Churchill, North Somerset, built to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. It stands on a plot between Dinghurst Road and Front Street, and is a prominent landmark at the entrance to the village. Designed by Joseph Foster Wood of Foster & Wood, Bristol, the tower is made of local stone and is of perpendicular Gothic style.
Dukinfield Town Hall is a municipal building in King Street, Dukinfield, Greater Manchester, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Dukinfield Borough Council, is a grade II listed building.
James Ritchie & Son are a firm of Clockmakers in Broxburn, West Lothian, Scotland. The company was established in 1809 and is Scotland's oldest turret clock manufacturer.
The clock was made by our associate company J. B. Joyce in Shropshire for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1898.—J. E. Howard Smith.
Contains a chapter on the history of J. B. Joyce & Co.