Wood Green
LONDON U.K.
St Michael Wood Green
The Tower, Spire, Bells and Clock were all given to St Michael's by Samuel Page:
In 1863 Samuel Page (1810-86), a City tea dealer, moved into Chitts Hill House and the 48 acres estate, which lay between the High Road and Wolves Lane with the house itself where Sylvan Avenue is today. He and his first wife supported the rebuilding of St Michael Wood Green in 1863/4, and in 1873/4 he paid for the tower and spire (designed by Scott), clock and peal of six bells in her memory and that of their eldest son, who had died aged 21 in 1871. A local newspaper wrote at the time: ‘The Tower and Spire of Wood Green Church are, we are pleased to learn about to be erected forthwith, Samuel Page Esq. of Chitts Hill having munificently undertaken to defray the whole cost. The work to be executed will be of a much more elaborate character than was originally proposed. The old estimate amounted to about £1200 but at Mr Page’s request fresh designs have been prepared, and one adopted which will cost between £2000 and £3000 to carry out. There are also to be a peal of bells and a clock to the tower of the Church, the expense of which Mr Page will defray, so that ere long Wood Green will be able to boast of a Parish Church worthy of the neighbourhood. It is not often that we have the opportunity of recording such an act of munificence as that we have referred to and we are sure we shall be echoing the feelings of the parishioners of Wood Green and Tottenham generally when we say that Mr Page deserves the gratitude of the public for his great liberality.’ Mr Page and his second wife and family left in 1881, and the estate was sold for housing development.
the
turret clock
The Turret Clock in St Michael's was made by John Moore & Sons of Clerkenwell
Close, London in 1874.
The manufacturers came into existence around 1790 under the name of Handley and Moore, two men who had been apprenticed together. John Moore took complete charge of the firm in 1821, and his sons joined him in the trade, so that by 1829 the firm was established as John Moore & Sons. Their new firm was to produce an incredible array of movements which could be found everywhere in society: libraries, ships, halls, railway waiting rooms and kitchens, as well as church towers (turret clocks).
Moore's first Turret Clocks were 'posted birdcage' movements made in cast iron, using 'dead beat' escapements. By1870 however, they had begun to use 'plate and spacer' movements. The clocks they designed and built were incredibly durable, solid and functional, and most that survive are still in good working order. When Henry J Moore died in 1899, the firm ceased production.
