The Building Conservation Directory 2022

119 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 One consequence of this decline in standards is the increasing use of electric and electronic products which automate the winding and regulation of historic gravity clocks. These aids stop the clock from talking to the owner – a really odd concept. Gravity clocks work very slowly and adapt to the building over decades. When a clock bell strikes, the common parlance is that the clock ‘speaks’, and in the same way, if a clock needs maintenance it will always slow down to tell anyone prepared to listen that it needs attention. It will do so without damaging itself. With few exceptions modern aids force the clock to continue to work without addressing the underlying problems. The A time-served clockmaker would see how the dial was made, how it was fixed to the wall or installed, what materials were used, whether it had internal counterpoises, whether the dial if round is convex hand plannished or modern GRP, whether the colour is correct, and so on. Under the commercial pressures of scaffold costs, contract margins and funding, compliance and self-regulation are vulnerable. Help can be at hand from the funders and from conservation officers of central and local government. The most effective protection of good conservation to a high standard is when the clock becomes a public amenity which is treasured by those who use or see it on a daily basis, or where the clock is considered a marketing aid for a development. Big Ben is the icon of Britain, and we should endeavour to ensure all turret clocks remain as local icons, in use and functioning properly. Recommended Reading Basic guidance for custodians of turret clocks can be found on the advisory website, turretclocks.com Guidance note for Turret Clocks , Church Care (Council for the Care of Churches), London 1983, http://bc-url. com/clocks-guidance MELVYN LEE is a chartered secretary and director of Thwaites & Reed (www.thwaites-reed.co.uk/) (see page 115). His responsibilities include five-year apprenticeships in clock manufacture and maintenance, providing a lifetime of skill which can be built on up to expert level (Dreyfus scale 5), and incorporates conservation best practice for thousands of clocks built and cared for by the company. clock mechanism is designed to operate on gravity alone, and instant electrical power can do long term damage to it. Apart from the mechanism, which is the heart of a gravity clock, the dials and hands are more likely to be treated sympathetically. However, also part of the dial work is a set of motionwork gears behind each set of hands. For a clock under attack from a non-specialist engineer, the final nail in the coffin is the removal of these motionworks. Thereafter the only method of using the clock is an electric or electronic device bolted on to the hands, which might in turn have to be replaced because they are incompatible with the torque of replacement drive units. The author with Thwaites & Reed’s team of clockmakers, conservators and apprentice give scale to St Pancras Station’s original Victorian clock following a full restoration. A Huygens endless chain automatic winder provides an electrical solution to winding up the weights, without altering the way the clock mechanism works. A large three-train clock mechanism with an electronic bell and night silencer and automatic time regulation. (All the clocks in this article have been worked on or supervised by the author, with the exception of the Wells clock on the first page.)