A LONG LIFE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1016, 5 July 1930, Page 1

A LONG LIFE

ANCIENT CLOCK IN AUCKLAND NEARLY 200 YEARS OLD A beautiful rosewood grandfather clock, said to be nearly 200 years old, is now in possession of Dr. G. de Clive Lowe, of Symonds Street. It was brought to New Zealand from Ireland in 1908. Bishop Lenihan, predecessor to the late Dr. Cleary in the Roman Catholic Bishopric in Auckland, returned from a trip Home, he presented the clock, which lie had obtained in County Cork, to Dr. de Clive Lowe. The maker whs John Spencer, who was evidently a great craftsman, for the clock has several unusual features. The face is of solid brass; the wooden case has not a veneer but is of solid rosewood t h r oughout; although the clock is claimed to be 197 years old, it lias a spiral wire gong on which the hours are chimed. This mechanism may have been introduced after the clock was first constructed. but on examination that does not appear to be so. There are four small medallious, one in each corner of the face, representing Spring. Summer, Autumn and Winter. This clock ticked away the hours of the darkest period in all Ireland’s dark history. What was its own story in the 175 years before it was brought to New Zealand?