This grandfather clock belonged (naturally) to my grandfather. I first saw it as a child when they lived in Ailsa Gardens. My grandmother never liked it because it never fitted in. When they moved to Dalry Road and my father moved to Linn Road, he was persuaded by my grandmother to take the clock but it never fitted in there either and my mother did not like it. So when we moved to Turriff to an old house with large rooms with high ceilings, my mother declared it the ideal place for the clock. So for the past 20 odd years it has stood in our hall.
I never paid it much attention and even when I was told that there was a similar clock by the same maker in Burns cottage, the significance passed me by. However this topic aroused my interest and I had my first serious look at it. The maker is Samuel Harper, Newtown, Ayr (faintly inscribed on the face) and I have found a reference to him in "Old Scottish Clockmakers": '... wife of Samuel Harper, watchmaker, Ayr - 1799'.
I had always assumed my grandfather bought the clock new but if the date is correct then it must have been more than 100 years old when grandfather acquired it. I cannot imagine him buying an antique clock so I have to assume he inherited it. I don't know why I never knew that. If the date is correct, I have a 200+ year old clock that must have come down through generations of the family.
