The Black Boy Clock in Stroud

On my walk home from Lansdown Hall and Bank Gardens which adjoin it, I strolled up Nelson Street along the ancient route out of town towards Bisley.

We had a very pleasant and successful meeting between various groups about what will hopefully happen to the Gardens and the Hall. The architect told me about his involvement in working around the town in various roles, and about his childhood in Surrey which we share in common. He is a great bonus about the project bringing an honest concern for heritage, allied to an understanding of the importance of sustainability, as well as great pragmatism based on experience.

Stroud has a history of opposition to slavery and a contribution towards the ending of it, marked by an important archway in the Farm Hill area to the west of town. My walk took me in the opposite direction, up past a mid-Victorian school building which this clock and the Black Boy have been added to. That happened in 1844, after the Black Boy, made in 1774, was moved from its original location on the shop-front of the watchmaker John Miles, of Kendrick Street, and then later on the front of the Duke of York pub, which is still open about 50 yards away on Nelson Street. Finally the boy and the clock were bought by subscription and set up on the National School on Castle Street, where it now resides. He holds a hammer which rang the bell in front of him when the hour struck on the nearby clock.

It was restored by Mr A J Nichols, MBHI, of Bristol in 2004 with the assistance of Stroud Town and Stroud District Councils. I think I will try to learn more about it. For instance when it stopped chiming the hour or even when the clock last stopped.