Maintenance agreements
These documents record agreements between churchwardens, acting on behalf of a parish, and a clocksmith, binding the clocksmith to a series of obligations regarding the clock. Typically these agreements were intended to operate over several years, the clocksmith maintaining the clock and coming promptly to repair it should it break down. Agreements set out, though the details were often assumed, what would constitute satisfactory performance, response times, and the like. Penalties for inadequate fulfillmient of the clocksmith's obligations were sometimes spelled out, and could be severe. In return the clocksmith received either an annual fee or (less often) a lump sum payment. Typically new contracts accompanied the construction of a new clock (as an integral part of supplying the clock), major alterations, the adding of chiming mechanisms or new dials, or they could he precipitated by the death of an existing contractor.
Hundreds of these documents survive, sometimes alongside churchwardens’ accounts, sometimes preserved in vestry books. In the absence of accounts, maintenance agreements may provide the clearest and earliest evidence for a clock's existence. The earliest example located thus far is for Cropredy (Oxfordshire) in 1512. The routine character of maintenance agreements is nicely demonstrated by the inclusion of one among the stock of model legal agreements maintained by a Northamptonshire attorney around 1700.
Follow the links to access examples of provisions in maintenance agreements