Sunday 13 February 2022

JOHN BOOT, CLOCKMAKER, SUTTON IN ASHFIELD - part 2

With Simon Nocivelli contacting me in November 2021 & saying would you like to come & see my John Boot clocks, I was overjoyed to hear that they were in Sutton & swiftly made arrangements to go & photograph them at his Kings Caffe in King Street. Simon's cafe is literally only 15 meters from where John Boot's workshop was situated on the corner of King Street & New Street. 

When I was young in the 1960's the shop which occupied this corner location was Shepperson's Cycles, Television & Radio shop & I can remember my dad taking me there for some bicycle parts & Mr. Shepperson lead us through the shop & out into the back yard were there were some old brick buildings to the right & some old stone buildings to the left which had large yard gates attached which opened out onto New Street (this is the old New Street, not the present one, please see map) & the cycle parts were in one of these stone buildings. I cannot prove this, but I strongly believe these stone buildings may have been John Boot's workshops. Many years later when New Street was pedestrianised with block paving & the "new" New Street then ran at the back of these stone buildings as it does today & parallel to King Street, I can still visualise these stone buildings & those big yard gates. To my surprise I have now found a photo of some of the brick buildings from the "new" New Street on this website. The stone buildings were to the right of this shot & the large gates were just around the corner.

https://picturethepast.org.uk/image-library/image-details/poster/ptpn001468/posterid/ptpn001468.html

If by chance you have a photo of New Street showing the old stone buildings & the large yard gates that I have described, please get in touch, as I would dearly like to add it to my post with a credit to yourself. My email address can be found on the Contacts Tab at the top of this page. Thanks.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.

I have coloured New Street - green, King Street - yellow, Shepperson's shop - blue, brick buildings - purple & stone buildings - orange. There have been many street changes in this part of Sutton with modernisation & King Street is only half as long as long as this map shows with today's Langton Road cutting it into two & Langton Court Flats being built on the left hand section of King Street. Today a doctors surgery is now built on the site of Shepperson's/John's workshop. I have added this link to the 1900 & modern map side by side to show how this area has changed. If you put your cursor on New Street on the modern map, it shows you what was demolished to build this street. 

As you will have read in my first John Boot post which I kicked off in 2014, I expected to find many John Boot clocks still to be in Sutton, but that turned out to be the opposite, until now. I have since been a second time to photograph Simon's latest acquisition, an Isaac Boot example with a 8 day movement which now numbers 6 complete clocks, various dials & workings in his collection. The other 5 complete clocks have 30 hour movements. Simon tells me Isaac was an Innkeeper by trade, so clockmaking may have been his hobby. So below are my photos from the two shoots. A search of the web has revealed three more Isaac Boot clocks have been sold at auction. It's strange how historians have never recorded Isaac as a clockmaker. Many Thanks Simon for helping me bring this new post to the web.


No.1 - John Boot junior & William Boot.







This auction article which shows a William Boot example reveals brothers John junior & William went into partnership in 1775, hence both names being on this dial. John senior had died in 1767 & I am assuming John junior dropped the junior bit after his father's death. 


No.2 - John Boot.







No.3 - John Boot junior.







No.4 - John Boot.






No.5 - John Boot.







No.6 - Isaac Boot.









John Boot - dial with workings.





John Boot junior - dial 424.




Workings.





John Boot junior - dial 434.















Tuesday 12 February 2019

IPSWICH TRANSPORT MUSEUM


I visited Ipswich's Transport Museum while on a mini break staying with my Nephew & Niece at their new home in Ipswich on very pleasant day in October last year. Not knowing what I would find there, as I had only briefly checked opening times, I was wowed & amazed by the number & variation of buses, vehicles & other displays on offer to see. I originally only set-out an hour to see this museum, but in the end & including a cup of Rosie Lee & a slice of cake, I was there for three hours & I don't think that I saw everything in detail even then. So if you are a transport buff or just like re-living days gone-by then put this museum on your must visit list. There are vehicles which are in the process of being restored to see & don't miss out on seeing the flat capped owner of the bike repair shop, who made me smile & brought memories flooding back of my dad repairing his bikes, Happy Days !

You will be welcomed by very pleasant guides who are always on hand to give you information on any of the displays. You can go & sit inside the buses & one bus has a video playing old street footage of trams & buses, hence the need to allow plenty of time to visit this great museum. All vehicles have information boards to read & you will see from the small selection of my photos included in this post from the very many taken that day, that there is a lot to see & do.











I had to add this poster which is in one of the buses because of the sinister grumpy look on the old lady's face, she should be smiling & thanking her fellow travellers for letting her board the bus first & check out that ghetto-blaster the young man is carrying, it's got to be the 1980's ! 








Here is the link to the Museum for you to check their 2019 opening times & very reasonable entry prices (£5.50 per adult, £3.50 children & £5 concessions/students), so there's no excuse not to sample a slice of their wonderful cakes !!!  

I had such a great day there that if I am in Ipswich again, I will certainly pay the museum another visit.