Clock & Dial Restoration Project, Mappleton, East Riding of Yorkshire

The church of All Saints at Mappleton stands just inland from the sea. It is an essentially Victorian church, with a striking steeple built of stone salvaged from a shipwreck. The church was roofless in 1854 when a ship bearing a load of Tadcaster stone ran aground at Mappleton. The people of Mappleton were not slow to seize upon the bounty of the sea, and completed the roof and spire with the stone flotsam.

The project was to return the clock to working order, because it had not been running for some time. Also the dials were painted silver, with no gold leaf. Our clockmakers dismantled the clock, de-greased and polished all the bearings and pinions. The dials were removed and the original paint removed. The dials were then powder coated and gilded with gold leaf. The clock was fitted with Automatic Winding to the going and hour strike, and a pendulum regulator to keep the clock correct and automatically change for summer and winter time changes.

 

 

Conservation Project, Ex Birch Hill Hospital, Rochdale.

Three of our clockmakers, Steve, Peter and Matthew have recently finished a conservation project for Persimmon PLC.

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Persimmon had to sympathetically restore and convert the old Birch Hill Hospital and Clock Tower. Time Assured were asked to restore the clock and dials. Unfortunately when we arrived on site for the site survey, it became apparent that the original movement was no longer on site. It was decided that new electric movements would be fitted and an Automatic Restart Unit to make sure the clocks kept to the correct time and changedat the summer and winter time changes. We have also fitted LED lights behind the dials.

The four dials were 7′-0″ diameter skeleton dials and glazed with a mixture of glass and perspex. All the original dial glazing was chipped out, and templates taken for the new glazing panels. The dials were suitably cleaned to a stable surface for painting. The dials were then primed, undercoated and two top coats of paint.

New perspex glazing panels were installed and sealed using a mastic system. New electric movements, LED lights and an Automatic Restart unit installed.

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Floral Clock, Pannett Park, Whitby, North Yorkshire.

During May 2016, we were contacted by Scarborough Council. This was to take a look at the floral clock in Pannett Park in Whitby. This had not been working for some time.

When our clockmaker uncovered the clock movement, which is normally buried under the plants. He found that the drive pin on the minute spindle had been sheared, therefore the motor could not drive the clock hands. Also the drive coupling had been badly deformed.

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The top of the clock case was returned to our workshop. This was then disassembled, and a new drive cup assembly machined from stainless steel. A new pin was fitted to the minute spindle and the whole assembly rebuilt.

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Whilst we were repairing the clock movement, Scarborough Council had re-painted the hands. The repaired clock movement was re-fitted, and re-buried ready for the summer bedding to be planted out.

Dial Restoration of St Mary & St Laurence Parish Church, Bolsover, Derbyshire.

During March 2016, Bolsover Parish Church contacted us regarding a dial restoration. They had received a lottery Heritage Fund grant, to restore the structural integrity of the Church Tower. For this work to be carried out the two clock dials also needed to be removed. This was to allow the stonemasons the access required to repoint the stonework behind the dials. The Church decided to have a dial restoration carried out at the same time, thus utilizing the scaffold which would be in place for the stonemasons.
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The above picture illustrates the dials were weathered and in need of restoration. The stonework behind the dials was in need of re pointing and the plants growing out of the gaps between the stonework needed removing.

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When our clockmakers approached the dials, it also became apparent that the original steel dial fixings had corroded quite badly and were in need of replacement.

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The Restoration

We initially removed the dials to our workshops. They were then taken to a local company who carefully sandblasted the cast iron dials back to bare metal. They then primed them to ensure longevity of the restoration. We painted the dials with a suitable undercoat and two pack black top coat. Our clockmakers then applied 23 1/2 carat double thickness English Gold Leaf to the chapters and concentric rings.

We re-fixed the dials using new stainless steel fixings and a chemical resin system.