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Ordsall All Hallows

Clock

Clock face	Clock mechanism
Detail of the clock mechanism	Inscription on the internal dial

The gold leaf four-faceted clock dial, having minute intervals nearly three inches in length, was made by G & F Cope & Co. Nottingham in 1908. The clock was made from designs laid down by the late Lord Grimthorpe. There is a double three-legged gravity escapement embodied in the work. Cambridge quarters are struck upon first, second and third and sixth bell and hour upon tenor.

The combined weight of the hammers used is 1½ cwt.

The clock is bolted down upon massive steel girders built across the tower. The pendulum bob weighs 1½ cwt: beats quarter seconds and is guaranteed to keep time to 1½ minutes in three months. The apparatus is fixed to the belfry to enable the clock to be silenced without going up the tower.

The total weight in connection with the clock is 1 ton 18 cwt.

The chime regulating wheel is inscribed:

The inscription on the internal dial reads:

The service of dedication was held in November 1908. The curate, the Rev. Deacon, took the service. The choir and clergy went to the west end. Canon Keymer (Headon) read the directory prayers and the clock was started at one minute to 8pm by the late rector’s grand-daughter, Ruth Foster. Mr Gower, the rector’s warden, handed her a silver box in which was placed the ribbon used to start the clock. The clock then struck the hour and full chimes.

The clock was sent away to Messrs. Potts, of Leeds for repair in 1949. It was discovered that the hands were zinc substitutes for the original, and that all eight needed replacing in copper. The repair followed a period of fund raising after it was noticed that the clock was no longer keeping good time and showed different times on the four faces. The cost of the repair was £144. The clock was re-started on Rogation Sunday evening, May 22nd at 6.15pm. All did not go smoothly as the hands on the east side stopped and re-adjustments had to be made to the chimes.

The mechanism was wound manually until 1976 – this involved about eight minutes of winding the weights, a task which had to be undertaken three times a week - when the mechanism was converted to electrical operation by Messrs. Potts of Leeds. This was made possible by a donation of £500 by Mr and Mrs Bernard Marsh, in memory of their daughter. A brass plaque on the wall next to the entrance to the tower commemorates this donation:

The clock was re-gilded and repaired in 1990 by three local parishioners: Edwin Stockdale and Ken and Martin Sturgess.

Further repair was carried out by Ken Sturgess in 1996 when it was found that a brass bearing was badly worn and final pair of gears were out of mesh. Major repair had to be carried out when a power cut later that year caused damage to the winder mechanism. The entire winder mechanism had to be returned to the maker at a cost of more than £300. Motor switches were replaced at the same time.