This clock was made in 1788 by Samuel Deacon at his workshop in Barton in the Beans.
It has a simple 8-day movement (which needs winding up just once a week) which is inscribed: S.D. No 324, August 1788. The clock was made for a public building, such as a chapel or tavern, and reflects the fact that, as the Industrial Revolution changed working lives in the 18th century, so it became increasingly important for people to know the time.
We are fortunate in that Deacons family continued the clock making business after his death until 1951. The contents of his workshop, with many of his original tools and work benches, and several clocks, are now in the Leicestershire County Council's museum collections, while his notebooks and business ledgers are in the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland.
