Purchases of new clocks
The detail in which churchwardens recorded their spending varied greatly. The installation of some new clocks was covered in a single, bald line: ‘for the new clock ... £9’. At the other extreme, especially where running accounts were regularly created from the vouchers or other records of individual transactions, several dozen separate and dated payments may be recorded, specifying the tasks or materials linked to each. Where all spending was disaggregated to this extent the sheer volume of activity documented is formidable. The wardens of St Dunstan’s-in-the-East in London, for example, recorded over some seven hundred separate items of expenditure in 15__. The churchwardens at Wantage in 1685-86 were less forthoming than that, but quite detailed, while those at Woodbury more than a century earlier illustrate the sparseness of recording that will often be encountered in accounts.
Follow the links to access examples of spending connected with new clocks: