Grandfather clock back in Pocklington after almost 200 years – now a public place is needed to showcase it

The grandfather clock – more correctly termed a longcase clock – was made in Pocklington 198 years ago, but has spent most of its life in other parts of Britain.

The owners, John and Claire Doyle, had kept and cared for it for the past 15 years at their home in Glossop, but after reading an article on the pocklingtonhistory.com website they decided to donate it back to where it originated.

Though she does not know exactly how they acquired it, the clock has been in Claire Doyle’s family for several generations. Claire thinks it came into her family when they were 19th Century Yorkshire shoemakers, and she has fond memories of playing with the clock as a child at her grandfather’s in Lancashire.

It moved on to an aunt’s house in Wales before coming into the Doyle’s possession at Glossop.

Claire said: “We’ve enjoyed having the clock, but our son isn’t really interested in it. I was searching the internet for some information about the makers and saw they wanted a clock in Pocklington. I’m really pleased to be able to send it home after all these years.”

The clock was made by Reuben Milner at his Pocklington workshop in Regent Street.

Identifying it was easy, not only is ‘R Milner Pocklington’ painted on the clockface, but inside is a label saying: ‘Reuben Milner, Regent Street, Pocklington 1823’. It is an early example of Milner’s work.

He came to Pocklington from Market Weighton when he married Mary Easton in 1805, and started his clock and watchmaking on West Green, but soon moved to Regent Street, where the Milner family continued making timepieces for three generations.

The clock was collected from Glossop by Pocklington District Heritage Trust trustees Phil Gilbank and Andrew Sefton who carefully brought it back to East Yorkshire.

They had been looking for such a clock to be part of the collection in the proposed Pocklington museum, but had just missed out on a couple that had been sold at auctions elsewhere in the country, so were delighted when the Doyles made contact.

Phil Gilbank said: “We are immensely grateful to Mr and Mrs Doyle for giving us their clock. After looking for several months, I was beginning to think we were fated not to find one until this offer came out of the blue, it is a splendid piece of Pocklington clock making.

“It still keeps good time, but we have been warned by John Doyle that it has a mind of its own. He’s cared for it throughout the past 15 years and told us that if you don’t do things the way it is used to, it will shut down for a couple of days to show who is boss, then start up again and run fine.”

The heritage trust is now looking for someone to look after it until its museum plans come to fruition.

Phil added: “Having brought it back to Pocklington, it would be a shame if it was out of view of the community.

“So we are appealing to any public building or local business that might like to house it for the time being in a place where it can be seen.”

Anyone who might be interested in looking after it for the heritage trust can make contact by email on [email protected].