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Question
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Can you tell me the history of the Clock Inn at Lydeway. I understand that it started off life as a clockmakers before it became a public house.
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Question asked on
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14 July 2006
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Answer
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We know that Charles Raymond was making clocks here in 1773, when he placed a clock over the doorway. This was a clock with a painted wooden dial and dated 1773; in remained there until the 1960s, but its whereabouts are now unknown. Charles had married in 1762 and I believe that a clock of his exists from 1761. His brother, James, also married ion 1762, was a clockmaker, possibly on the same premises. At this time the house was a single storey, low thatched building. The third clockmaker was Evi Raymond, married in 1811 and the first to be recorded as a publican in 1848, although the premises could have been licensed earlier but there are no directories that cover Stert before 1848. I do not however think that it was a public house in the early 1820s.
The last member of the Raymond family with a connection to this building was Elizabeth Raymond, possibly a daughter of Evi, who was the landlady until her death around 1870. After that an upper floor was added to the Clock and ownership may have passed to the Kennett Brewery of West Kennett. It was certainly one of the houses they sold in 1882.
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Bibliography
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Old Wiltshire Clockmakers, by E.J. Kite. Articles in the Wiltshire Gazette, 1923-4.
Stert: the hidden village, by Stert Millennium Project, 1999
