Clocks : Penarth

It’s time for more time pieces, this time my local clocks here in Penarth, south Wales.

Town Clock

First up is our official Town Clock. Located in the centre of a busy roundabout at the junction of Penarth’s main street and four other roads, this four-faced clock was designed to coordinate with the Victorian architecture for which Penarth is well known (the town rose to fame as a seaside escape for busy Cardiffians during the Victorian era). 

The clock, manufactured by renowned clockmakers J. B. Joyce & Co of Shropshire, was presented to Penarth by the local Rotary Club to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their local presence in 1987.

However, the current clock is not that clock. After ticking away for 20 years or so, the original clock started to lose time, showed different times on its different faces, and developed a degree of unreliability that locals found irksome. 

Apparently, the local water company stepped up to fund the purchase of a replacement town clock, which looks exactly the same as the old one and which was installed on Sunday 4 November 2018.

But what became of the old clock? Well, imagine my surprise when, just a couple of days after I had read the details of this replacement, my daily walk took me past Penarth Cemetery and there, plonked on the tarmac next to the old chapel buildings, was the clock. I have no idea what its long-term fate will be but the cemetery chapel is due to be renovated shortly so perhaps the old clock is being incorporated in that renovation in some manner.

Old Town Clock on the left, new on the right

Pier Pavilion clock

This is another tale of clocks being replaced. The original round Art Deco clock on the front of Penarth’s pier pavilion was presented to the District Council, in 1929, by a Mrs Esther Harris, partly in memory of her husband Hyman, who had long run a pawnbroker’s business in the town, and also in memory of her son Stewart, known as Solly, who was a casualty of the First World War. Private Stewart Ernest Harris, 8th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment, was killed at Ypres on 26 August 1915, aged just 22.

The new, square clock was installed when the pier pavilion was refurbished in 2013, thanks to the generosity of locals Paul and Geraldine Twamley. This clock, which also has a pleasing Art Deco look, in keeping with the design of the pavilion, was made by Smith of Derby, clockmakers to the nation since 1856.

Public Library clock  

Penarth’s Public Library is a handsome building, built mainly of Pennant stone with Bath stone dressings, and it boasts the striking addition of a clock tower.

According to an article in The Cardiff Times, Saturday 17 September 1904, which was reporting the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone for the new public library (on 10 September), the District Council had ‘already voted a sum of money to provide a handsome tower clock in the tower, and Mr Robert Forrest has also generously expressed his intention of providing the necessary bell and striking apparatus.’ When the library opened on 30 August 1905, The Cardiff Times again reported the event (on 2 September 1905), including confirmation that Mr Robert Forrest had indeed ‘generously contributed £100 towards the cost of the clock in the tower.’

If you’re particularly fascinated by this clock, you can watch a very short video of it on YouTube, including its chiming of the hour. Prior to moving to Penarth, I looked at buying a flat in an old building opposite Penarth Library. The flat was nice, if small, and had a peep-of-the-sea view but I’m now very glad I didn’t buy it because I think the sound of the library clock striking not only every hour of every day, but also every quarter hour, might well have become very annoying.

East Sussex : Clocking on

I’ve just returned from a brief visit with friends in East Sussex and in London so there’ll be a few blogs about some of the architectural features I noticed on my travels. The first of these concerns clocks.

I wondered why so many churches have clocks on their towers but, as a friend pointed out, in times past many people wouldn’t have had clocks or watches, so a clock in a prominent position provided a public service – and possibly helped ensure the congregation was on time for church services.

Hailsham: Parish Church

Hailsham Parish Church dates from the mid-fifteenth century but its clock was installed much later, to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. The church’s website says ‘Until that time the tower had a single diamond shaped clock face which had the distinction of having only one hand, the intervals between the numerals being divided into four quarters instead of five minutes.’

Lewes: Dial House, 221 Cliffe High Street

Dated 1824 and restored in January 2009, this stunning metal sun dial carries the motto Nosce Teipsum, which translates as ‘Know thyself’. Though I don’t know the original purpose of this building, which was built in the mid-17th century, I did discover that it housed a Quaker School for young women a couple of years after the date of the sundial, in 1826. In 2019, the building is home to the local branch of Waterstone’s bookshop.  

Lewes: St Michael’s Church

According to the Sussex Parish Churches website, this grand clock dates from the 19th century. The clock is not attached to the church itself but projects on decorative cast-iron brackets from the neighbouring church hall.

Lewes: Trinity Church, Southover (below, left)

The Trinity Church website has an excellent guide to the history of this magnificent old church – unfortunately, the guide makes no mention of the clock on the tower.

Lewes: Market Tower (above, right)

Lewes’s Market Tower, a Grade-II listed building, was constructed from red and brown brick in 1792. The crest below the clock depicts the arms of Lewes.

Pevensey: St Nicolas Church

Though this Anglican church is old, completed in 1216, its clock is rather more modern. According to Wikipedia, the two-sided tower clock was manufactured by Smiths of Derby and installed in 1908.   

Bexhill: Clock Tower

Though intended as a memorial to the coronation of Edward VII in August 1902, this clock tower was not completed until two years later. Except for the garish colour scheme, it is a rather plain construction of imitation Bath stone, with clock faces on all four sides. The Public Sculptures of Sussex website reports that the clock is not the original one.