Thomas Tompion's Cottage in Ickwell Jul 2007

Thomas Tompion was baptised (and so probably born) in Northill in 1639. He worked as a blacksmith in Ickwell until 1664 when he travelled to London and became apprenticed to a clockmaker, joining the Clockmaker's Company in 1671 and becoming its Master in 1704; he was also a member of the Royal Society. He made his name in 1676 with the opening of the Royal Observatory, when Charles II commissioned him to create two clocks which would be very accurate and only need winding once a year.

Tompion worked with the scientist Robert Hooke (1635-1703), a scientist and architect who pioneered the use of microscopes and invented a cylinder escapement which, for the first time, allowed flat watches to be made. He then began to work on a spring escapement which his partner, George Graham, carried on after his death. He died in 1713 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

The house in which he lived prior to moving to London is now Number 2 Caldecote Road and known as Tompion's Cottage. John Byng, 5th Viscount Torrington visited Ickwell whilst on a visit to Southill Park in 1790 and, drawing a rough skecth of the cottage, wrote "Upon this spot, in a blacksmith's shop, was Tompion brought up, who, from making plough chairs, took in clocks to repair, and so followed the watchmaking line till he attained the highest excellence". The cottage was listed as of historical interest by Department of Environment in 1966. They adjudged it of 17th century date with 19th century reworking. It is timber framed with colour-washed roughcast render and a thatched roof. It has a simple three room plan and one storey with attics.

He made a clock for the Pump Room at Bath in 1709 which is still in working order, Cecil Higgins Museum in Bedford also has a Tompion clock on display. Northill church has a one-handed clock by Tompion in the tower, perhaps installed just before he left Ickwell in 1664. He is also said to have built the clock in the turret over the stable block at Ickwell Bury| in the 1680s. His old house now bears a plaque erected by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers in 1952 which reads: "The birthplaceof Thomas Tompion, clockmaker. Born 1639. Died 20th November 1713. Buried in Westminster Abbey".