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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Clock type · Domestic

Tavern (Act of Parliament) Clocks

Partially verified

Large wall-mounted dial clocks with a very short or absent trunk, traditionally associated with the brief period of the British 1797 clock and watch tax, when innkeepers displayed a large public clock for travellers who could no longer justify paying tax on a personal timepiece.

Movement & mechanism

  • Weight- or spring-driven movement mounted directly behind a large dial, without the long trunk of a longcase clock
  • Anchor escapement typical of the period
  • Dial often black with gilt numerals and decoration for maximum legibility across a room

Identification

  • Large dial (commonly 24–30 inches) mounted on a short trunk or wall bracket rather than a full longcase
  • Black-and-gilt or similarly high-contrast dial decoration for distance legibility

Terminology

  • Act of Parliament clock — the traditional name referring to the 1797 duty on clocks and watches, repealed the following year
  • Wagon-spring or pendulum wall dial — related large-dial wall clock terms sometimes used interchangeably

Known variations

  • Coaching-inn dial clocks
  • Black-dial gilt tavern clocks
  • Painted-dial tavern clocks

Collecting notes

The direct causal link between the 1797 tax and this clock type is a long-repeated trade tradition rather than a fully documented certainty in every case; some large dial clocks of this style predate or postdate the tax period. Collectors should treat the 'Act of Parliament' name as a traditional label rather than a strict dating guarantee.

Photographs

The Parliament Clock (George Inn, Southwark)
The Parliament Clock (George Inn, Southwark) — T. W. Tyrrell, Public domain. Wikimedia Commons file page
Tavern Clock, Robert Haines of Oxford, 1770, wood, lacquer, metal - Packwood House - Warwickshire, England - DSC08892
Tavern Clock, Robert Haines of Oxford, 1770, wood, lacquer, metal - Packwood House - Warwickshire, England - DSC08892 — Daderot, Public domain. Wikimedia Commons file page
Act of Parliament Clock (coaching inn clock or tavern clock), 1765, donated by Samuel Dexter in 1765 - Dedham Historical Society - Dedham Massachusetts - DSC04306
Act of Parliament Clock (coaching inn clock or tavern clock), 1765, donated by Samuel Dexter in 1765 - Dedham Historical Society - Dedham Massachusetts - DSC04306 — Daderot, Public domain. Wikimedia Commons file page

Photographs are illustrative examples of the type, not necessarily the exact object described. Verify details against the source file page.

Sources & references

  1. Britten, F. J., Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers
  2. The strength of the causal link between the 1797 tax and the type's naming/origin is disputed among horological historians and is flagged here rather than asserted.

Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.