The Cemetery The Castle Union Workhouse General Hospital Holy Trinity Church St Alban's Church Black Boy School Cotswold Playhouse Wesley Chapel/Salvation Army Old Meeting Chapel
WM Black Boy School by kind permission of Wilf Merrett
What: Historical building c1844
Where: GL5 2JD   Castle Street
Then: This former National School took its name from its rare Jack Clock; a clock with a black figure which turned to strike a bell on the hour
Now: The clock was been restored and the school, which closed in 1964, became a Teacher's Centre. It is now flats

The clock is older than the school, having been moved here from a watchmaker's shop in the High Street. P.H. Fisher remembered it being there in his childhood in the 1790s, but its date is unknown.

The black figure, or jack, about two feet high, was described by Fisher as "turning his head, lifting his club, and striking the hours of day and night as they came round". It started out as an advert for tobacco.

 

From January 2016, this website is managed by Stroud Local History Society

Revised 2018 EMW