As
you might expect in such an historic city, London has some very imposing clocks. Here are some of the more famous I spotted during my recent visit.
Little Ben
Big
Ben may be the most famous clock in London, perhaps in the western world, but
its tower was covered in scaffolding due to the ongoing restoration and
refurbishment of parliament buildings, so here’s Little Ben instead. This clock, which sits at the corner of Victoria Street and Vauxhall Bridge Road, has a plaque that reads:
First erected in 1892. Taken down in
1964. Restored and re-erected on the 15th December 1981 by the Westminster City
Council with the help of Elf Aquitaine UK, offered as a gesture of
Franco-British friendship.
Little Ben’s apology for summer time
My hands you may retard or may advance
My heart beats true for England as for France. J.W.R.
A
miniature version of Big Ben, the clock’s time was, in the past, set to
daylight saving time rather than Greenwich Mean Time, so was correct for France
in the winter months and for Britain in the summer, hence the comment on the
plaque about ‘Franco-British friendship’ and the little ditty.
I imagine local
residents and commuters found that extremely confusing and the clock, which was
removed again for refurbishment in 2012 and returned in 2016, now reflects the
correct local time.
Westminster Abbey
When I was researching the clock on
Westminster Abbey’s north-west tower, I discovered that you can buy a
wristwatch of the same design, and Mallards, the company that crafts that watch (which
can apparently be purchased in the Abbey shop), have included this brief history of
the clock on their website:
It’s the north
west tower that gave us the inspiration for our new wrist watch, as it’s home
to the Abbey’s Georgian clock. The clock was made and fitted by John Seddon in
1738, seven years before the towers themselves were completed, but sadly, two
years after Hawksmoor’s death. Each of the three dials has only one hand, which
wasn’t remarkable in the 18th century, when accurate timekeeping wasn’t as
essential as it is today – indeed, many domestic clocks had just a single hour
hand. When the clock was refurbished in 1861, the movement was replaced but
they stayed with the single hand – after all, the “Big Ben” clock had been
installed by then, and perhaps two accurate clocks was considered an extravagance!
St Paul’s Cathedral
Not only have Smith of Derby been making clocks for over 150 years, they
also restore and conserve many high-profile clocks, included the one at St Paul’s
Cathedral, which they installed in 1893 and continue to maintain and service. A
team at Smith inspects the clock on a regular basis and carries out a routine restoration plan to ensure the 126-year-old clock never misses a chime. As the
Smith of Derby website explains:
The dials are
integral to the fabric of the building, so cannot be removed. Members of our
team qualified for full rope access are on hand to perform such restoration
tasks. As with all dial conservation work we use the best quality paints and
gold leaf, to ensure as long a life as possible.
...
The clock incorporates a weight driven mechanism with gravity escapement
designed by Edmund Denison Beckett, which is similar to the one used by Edward
Dent on ‘Big Ben’ in 1895. With quarter
chimes and hour striking the clock mechanism is now fitted with an electric
winding system and the clock movement sits proudly in its 18 foot flat bed
frame.
Details:
18 foot flat bed frame contains the clock movement
Originally manufactured and installed by John Smith and Sons in 1893
Incorporating a design of escapement by Edmund Denison Beckett
Electronic winding system designed and installed by Smith of Derby Ltd in 1969
Clock mechanism is 5.8 metres long
Royal Mews clock
Construction of the current Royal Mews buildings
was completed in 1825, at a cost of over
£65,000, as part of the rebuilding of Buckingham Palace commissioned by George
IV. I have located one reference that attributes the design of the magnificent Mews
clock, which adorns a tower above the Buckingham Palace Road entrance to the
Mews, to prestigious clockmaker
Benjamin Vulliamy (1747-1811). Vulliamy was
granted a Royal Appointment as the King’s Clockmaker by George III in 1773 but he had died by the time of the 1825
rebuilding. It is, however, possible that one of his designs was still used for
the clock, or that the clock was retained from an earlier building, or that the
design was, in fact, that of his grandson, also named Benjamin ... which
mention leads me nicely to my last clock (for now).
Horse Guards Building
Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (1780-1854) continued the family tradition of crafting
magnificent clocks and of the Royal Appointment as Clockmaker to the Crown
until his death in 1854. He is responsible for an impressive number of clocks
including this one, which is probably most watched at 11am each weekday morning
and 10am on Sundays as those times mark the beginning of the daily ceremony of Changing
the Queen’s Lifeguard (more details here).
The clock is
sited in the turret above the main archway; it has two faces, one facing
Whitehall and the other, Horse Guards Parade, each dial being 7 feet 5 inches
(2.25 metres) in diameter. It strikes the quarter-hours on two bells.
Originally made by Thwaites in 1756, the clock was rebuilt in 1815–16 by Benjamin
Lewis Vulliamy, the clockmaker to King George III. Prior to the completion of the clock of Big Ben in 1859,
the Horse Guards Clock was the main public clock in Westminster. A dark stain
above the Roman number two on the clock face is supposed to mark the time of
the execution of King Charles I in 1649, which took place in the roadway
outside Horse Guards. The annual ceremony of Trooping the Colour commences when
the Horse Guards Clock strikes eleven.
