Birdcage movement

A "bird-cage" movement (it has vertical pillars and the plates are horizontal top and bottom) is often taken to be a sign of an early clock. This is not guaranteed however, in southern England the clockmakers continued to make this type of movement from the start right through to 1820. Very few northern makers used this movement, it was essentially the same as the even earlier Lantern Clock movement. Northern makers had no tradition of making these clocks, so used the normal plated movement (vertical plates, horizontal pillars) from the start of their clockmaking. This style of movement was also used in early wooden Black Forest clocks.