Richard of Wallingford

Richard of Wallingford was Abbot of St Albans from 1327 until his death in 1336. During this time he almost completed the construction of a remarkable clock and astronomical indicator.

Richard joined the St Albans monastery in 1308 where he was looked after following the death of his father. He was sent to Oxford to study grammar and philosophy and six years later at the age of 22 he returned to the monastery. In 1317 Richard was ordained as a priest and in that year he returned to Oxford to lecture and to study philosophy and theology, but at that time was greatly interested in mathematics and astronomy. While at Oxford he wrote - entirely in Latin - a treatise on the design and construction of various astronomical instruments and a clock which would not only register the passage of time but would also display the current positions of the visible stars, the sun and the moon.

In 1326, after gaining a degree in theology, Richard returned to St Albans. Soon after that the Abbot died and Richard was elected as his successor. He now had the opportunity to build the clock which he had designed. He soon began the construction process but was unable to complete the task due to his untimely death from leprosy. The clock was completed by his successor but was lost or destroyed at the time of Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries.

In 1965 copies of Richard’s original notes were discovered in the Bodleian library at Oxford University. Professor John North set about translating and interpreting them and in 1976 published a book in three volumes in which he translates Richard’s writings and describes and explains - as far as possible - the plans for the construction of the clock and the other astronomical instruments.

Following the publication of Professor North’s book, several model replica clocks were constructed. One was built by Mr. Eric Watson and is now in the Wallingford Museum.

In 1988 a group of enthusiasts completed the construction of a full size replica clock and this is the one which is located in St Albans Cathedral at the present time. It is important to appreciate that the plans found at Oxford were for construction of a clock and not necessarily a complete description of the one which Richard constructed. Also the plans are not specific on many features of the clock and considerable amounts of conjecture and imagination were required by both Professor North and the constructors of the various replicas.