Tower Clock Movement from the Capitol

Dateca. 1750

MediumIron and brass or bronze

DimensionsOverall: 64.8 x 71.1 x 40.6cm (25 1/2 x 28 x 16in.)

Credit LineColonial Williamsburg Foundation

Object number2012-147,A (X)

Label TextAll manner of goods were imported from England to the early South, including mechanical objects for marking time. A remarkable survival, this clock movement was housed in the cupola of the Virginia Capitol in Williamsburg. It was likely installed in the 1750s, soon after the Capitol was rebuilt following a disastrous 1747 fire. Much like the movement in a tall case clock, the mechanism drove the large hands on the clock dial or dials that were mounted on the exterior of the cupola. It was attached to a bronze bell that marked the hours.

Writing of this clock in 1785, Noah Webster observed “Here is the only public clock & bell of consequence in Virginia.” After the seat of government moved to Richmond in 1780, the movement was used in the steeple of Bruton Parish church and possibly the cupola of the Williamsburg-James City County Court House on Duke of Gloucester Street.

ProvenanceLikely purchased in England for the second Capitol Building, it is thought to have been installed in the Courthouse, then Bruton Parish Church, and finally the reconstructed Capitol, before being replaced by a modern movement.

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