William Avenell Portsmouth. Circa 1780. A fine and rare antique musical longcase clock playing 7 tunes on 12 bells.
William Avenell Portsmouth. A fine and rare George III musical longcase clock playing 7 tunes on 12 bells with 20 hammers. The substantial 3-train movement housed in its original mahogany case. The brass, silvered dial with moon-phases.
The clock retains its original musical movement which has been comprehensively restored.
The different tunes are selectable by moving the lever in the arch. These are: Brittons strike home, Fond Shepherd, 104 Psalm, A jigg, Patties Mill, A March, A song. The tune is then played several times, after the strike, every third hour. The tunes are based on themes popular at the time, there is a large degree of musical ornamentation enabled by the 12 bells and corresponding hammers many of them doubled on one bell.
There are moon-phases to the arch consisting of hand-painted moon faces and intermediate starry skies.
The clock is complete with 3 lead weights (chime weight very heavy!), brass-faced pendulum, winder and keys for both trunk and hood locks (both working).
Overall height without centre finial is 89 inches, the finial adds another 5 inches.
Further notes
The Avenells were a very well respected family of clockmakers working in and around Hampshire during the 18th century. They have a reputation for making clocks of excellent quality.
This clock appears to date to around 1780, the end of the traditional brass-dial era. White dial clocks were becoming increasingly popular at this time and would soon dominate the market, however some makers in the South of England preferred a one-piece engraved brass dial. This dial seems to be moving towards that in some respects, although it still retains the traditional separate chapter ring, the ‘spandrels’ are engraved directly on to the dial plate.
It is becoming increasingly rare to find genuine Georgian musical clocks with their original movements. The majority of multi-bell clocks marketed are either Victorian, or have a Victorian movement attached to an original Georgian dial. This is partly because chiming clocks became much more popular after the installation of Big Ben around 1860. Also, I think, because musical movements have many more moving parts than a normal clock and therefore will wear out more quickly if not properly maintained.
The 12 bells on this clock are mounted transversely across the top/ back of the movement. This is something often used when a clock has a high number of musical bells, say 10 or more. The number of hammers is also a factor here, the majority of the bells have 2 chime hammers so that takes up more space as well to the point where it would become impractical to mount ‘back to front’ due to the space required in the case. The mechanism for this then becomes a little more complex as well. The ‘tune select’ function is provided by the barrel moving into a different position for each tune therefore accessing a different set of pins.
Twin hammers per bell are sometimes found on Georgian/ 18th century clocks but not normally on later examples. They enable faster striking on the bell so more complex tunes are possible. The later musical movements, typically with Westminster/ Whittington tunes, have a uniform tempo so would not require this.
The figured mahogany case of this clock is in a style typical for Avenell clocks of the era with distinctive ‘pagoda’ hood and silk backed sound fret to the arch. Overall the dimensions are a bit wider and deeper to accommodate the large movement and triple weights. The lenticle is unusual for this era, possibly a customer request or later addition.