Henry Bridges

Henry Bridges (1697–1754) was a builder, showman and clockmaker of Waltham Abbey, England. He was father of James Bridges, architect and engineer. Henry is famous as the builder of the giant clock, the Microcosm. He is buried with his wife in the ruins of Waltham Abbey, the largest monument there, which was restored several years ago by a local clockmaker. The clock was on tour from 1733 until 1775 and was seen by thousands of people in England, Ireland, Scotland and North America including George Washington and Richard Edgeworth who wrote an account of it in his memoirs. All trace has been lost of it until found in the 1920s in Paris. The astronomical part is now in the British Museum, but not on display.

Henry Married Sarah Trevise, whose family provided him with a large house in Waltham Abbey. In his will of 1754 he left a number of properties in and around Waltham Cross. There is a similar mystery about his son's work history before his arrival in Bristol. James was a highly talented architect and civil engineer who claimed he was taught by his father and that he had seen the works of the ancients, suggesting he had done the Grand Tour. Given the closeness of Waltham Abbey Gunpowder Works, it is possible the Bridges family were involved in the very lucrative secretive business of gunpowder manufacture. Source: The Big World of Mr Bridges' Microcosm, by Barb Drummond, published on Kindle