The Building Conservation Directory 2022

117 C AT H E D R A L COMMU N I C AT I O N S T H E B U I L D I N G CON S E R VAT I ON D I R E C TO R Y 2 0 2 2 EXTERNAL WORKS 3.4 made by hand and eye before the advent of modern mathematical aids, turret clocks can be accurate to within two seconds of atomic time. These early clockmakers really were the nuclear scientists of their day. GUIDELINES FOR CONSERVATION OF TURRET CLOCKS The amazing skills of past clockmakers are still available today: blacksmiths, cabinetmakers, artists, and metal workers can replicate those skills using modern equipment on traditional materials. If conservation is maintenance and repair in the manner of original manufacture, then 100 per cent conservation is possible. That is not to say that every element must be preserved as it is, but where replacement is necessary to keep the clock working, the new component should be made to match the original. This conservative approach underpinned traditional maintenance and repair for centuries, long before conservation philosophy was formally adopted by the wider conservation movement in the Athens Charter of 1931. By the 1960s conservation was just beginning to affect how clocks were maintained and it dovetailed with the traditional methods of manufacture and maintenance which the older clockmakers understood and practiced. The Venice Charter, which was adopted by ICOMOS in 1965, outlined some key issues that still underpin conservation philosophy today, including the concept of cultural significance. In particular Article 5 states that conservation is facilitated where a monument performs ‘some socially useful purpose’. What clearer example of useful purpose could there be than a working public clock before the advent of personal timepieces? Now with GPS time on every mobile phone, the functional value of a public clock may be tempered, but its functionality remains intrinsic to its significance, and this should be reflected in the mode of conservation. Guidance and agreed standards for the repair and conservation of clocks remain sparse. Many of the oldest turret clocks survive in parish churches where they are cared for by declining congregations and their diocesan advisors. Often these churches have lost the people who funded good maintenance and who took an interest in the church clock. New approaches have led to the slow destruction by piecemeal encroachment of electric and electronic aids, and bell captains are often the only regular visitors to the clockroom. Alarmed by reckless damage to its clocks, the Council for the Care of Churches issued guidelines in 1983 which banned the practice of total electrification and required any electrical aids to be removeable without damage to the original clock. These guidelines remain current best practice, despite being challenged by advocates of electric and electronic aids. Large and diverse institutions such as the church organisations and railway companies inevitably have periods when there is poor stewardship, and that interval, often measured in decades, can break the chain of conservation maintenance. However, provided the clock is left alone and neglected, it will not rot away, and with a few days’ work, the massively over- engineered mechanism can be brought back to life. It was after all, made to last the life of the building. Turret clocks which are owned by private estates, building preservation trusts and national heritage bodies like English Heritage, Cadw and Historic Environment Scotland tend to fare better, as the owners are more likely to have an interest in the clock itself. All their work contributes to good practice and draws stakeholders’ attention to the economic benefits that accrue from conserving original features such as clocks: conservation and profit are not incompatible. Large building conversion projects can lead to property developers being encouraged by planning permissions and listed building consents to restore clocks and make provision for future maintenance. The clock tower on William Kent’s Horse Guards, in Whitehall, London (completed 1759) A generic three-train movement: take a generic turret clock and strip it of its clothing, the building, and it will look like this across five levels, from ground to belfry. BELFRY LINK ROOM DIALWORK CLOCKROOM INTERMEDIATE FLOORS GROUND OR BASEMENT weights pendulum and bob chime train going train strike train pulleys bevel gears bevel gears cranks and connecting rods and wires exterior and interior dials and hands and motionwork gears weights THWAITES & REED Three Train Schematic hammerwork and bells Train Schematic