Coventry's Markets

Coventry Market Hall Clock Will Famous Timepiece Maintain Its Reputation? Coventry's famous timepiece, the Market Hall Clock, which, for a period of forty years when watch-making was one of the staple industries of the city, was so free from time error that it could be used to time thousands of chronometers that went from the city to the ends of the earth, is now recording the hours once more after being still for a week. After several temporary stoppages during the past few months a mechanical fault put the clock out of action, and true Coventrians will learn with pleasure that the clock, like the watches their forefathers produced, has stood the test of time, and is now expected to maintain its reputation for accuracy. Mr Sam Corbett, the octogenarian custodian of the clock, who has been nursing it tenderly through its past six months of sporadic ailment was called in to make an examination. He advised specialist opinion, an expert arrived from Derby, and the clock is now undergoing a general overhaul, its first for many years. Not that Mr Corbett is not himself an expert, most of his long and useful life has been spent in the diagnosis and cure of clock and watch ailments. But the time had come, he considered, when the Market Hall clock, which is nearly as old as he is, must be subject to a second opinion. Its mechanism has been playing odd tricks since last December. Prior to this year, however, the clock's record has been one of efficient and almost unfaltering service since the seventies of last century. It is one of the finest time-pieces in the country, and for many years before the advent of broadcasting was the "master clock" for the whole of the city. The history of the Market Hall clock is as interesting as the life of its maker. Mr Edward Thomas Loseby, a Coventry man, and one of the most eminent horologists of his day. Loseby learned his trade as a watch maker in Coventry, being apprenticed to Messrs Rotherham, the city's famous watchmaking firm, and after being in business with his father in Leicester for some time he moved to Islington where for many years he carried on the trade of a chronometer maker. Mr Loseby later turned his attention to the manufacture and improvement of clocks. He erected several clocks in and around Leicester - notably that in the clock tower - and in 1866 he entered into a competition to make a clock for the tower of the Market Hall that was about to be built. The contract price for the clock was £308 10s, but owing to Mr Loseby's desire to make the clock as perfect as possible it cost him about £600. There was a clause in the contract that the maker was to forfeit £1 for every second it varied over one second a day, which seemed, to say the least, a harsh stipulation. However the clock was duly fashioned and set going for public use in June 1876 and for almost 18 years kept well much perfect time. During a test over 9 months in 1866 the greatest variation on mean daily rate compared with Greenwich amounted to only 0.2 of a second. Since its erection the clock has more than justified the confidence reposed in its maker. "It is questionable whether there is another clock in the kingdom that could show a like performance", wrote Mr J J Farmer in a published account of Mr Loseby's work. In October 1889, a daily time signal from Greenwich was established in Coventry, and a record of comparison between the clock and the signal showed a remarkable closeness. In 32 tests, taken at regular intervals during 20 years, the clock agreed with the one o'clock time signal absolutely for a period of a week or more. "This clock is in a wonderful condition, and considering its age is in excellent condition", state the Derby firm who have undertaken the repairs. They have fitted a new controlling arm and check spring to the main clock movement; have refined the worn bearings and fixed a new gut-weight line. Facts about the clock Tower 100ft high Four six-foot diameter dials, each facing point of compass Figures 9.1/2 in long, minute dots 1.1/2in. Minute hand 2ft 10.1/4 in long. Hour Hand 2ft 0.1/2in long. Bell weighs 10cwts, struck by two 25lbs hammers alternately. Eight day clock