Under Robert jr the business also occupied various premises. The family business was taken over by his son, also Robert, who was granted his freedom in 1800. Robert Fletcher was a well-known Chester maker and is recorded working as a clock & watch maker at several Chester addresses in the late 18th century ~ Linenhall Street (1782), Foregate Street (1789-95), Upper (Higher) Bridge Street (1792). It is hoped that no one will employ the above John Challinor after this pubiic notice, but give information to his said master, who will defray all reasonable charges," Ran I away from his master's service about six weeks ago, John Challinor, indentured apprentice to Robert Fletcher, of this city he is about 5 feet 6 niches high, has brown hair cut short, and a little stammering in his speech. An advertisement in the press reminds us that apprentices two hundred years ago could not lightly leave their masters' employment. The training of clock- and watch-makers followed the usual apprentice system: typically with an "indenture" of up to seven years. Boswell), in Foregate Street (John Smith, Robert Higginson, Joseph Lumber), Bridge Street (Gabriel Smith, Benjamin Peers), Castle Street (Joseph Thomas), St John Street (John Ratcliffe) and Northgate Street (John Stanyer, Thomas Brown). The Chester Directory of 1781-7 lists a whole series of clockmakers in Eastgate Street (Robert Fletcher, George Moile, Robery Cawley), at the High Cross (G. There were also clockmakers in the rest of the city some of whom were members of important business families. If the Gloverstone itself was a prehistoric standing stone then the location is particularly apt, as people had possibly been figuring out the date here for millenia. Among these, in the late 17th and throughout the 18th century, settled a group of skilled clockmakers. It also provided a home for "foreigners" and, as time passed, it attracted inhabitants from many social classes. This gave those residing there the freedom to trade within its boundaries without the requirement to become Freemen of the city. This was because it was part of the Chester Castle enclave reserved for the Crown under the charter of Henry VII (1506). It may even have been used to tell the "time".įor centuries, the township of Gloverstone, while within the City Walls, was outside the jurisdiction of the city authorities and under the protection of the crown. The Gloverstone? - middle Ordovician speckled dolerite - about 460 million years old - twice the age of the local red sandstone.
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