Town clock keeps up with the chimes (From The Northern Echo)
For details on how to contact our editorial and commercial departments, click here
Darlington town clock keeps up with the chimes
8:00am Thursday 7th April 2011 in News
By David Roberts, Chief Reporter (Darlington)
Matthew Warburton an Engineer from Smith of Derby fixing Darlington's town clock.
AN historic clock in the centre of a market town is chiming again after undergoing repair work.
Specialist engineers were called in to fix the 1864 clock on Darlington market place after it stopped ringing at the right time.
Its bells of which were made by the same people who made Big Ben at the Houses of Parliament and is one of only four of its type in the country.
Clock repairers, Smiths of Derby were called in after it stopped chiming on the quarter-hour.
Peter Wilson, Darlington Borough Council's Markets Manager, said: "Around about Christmas time, we noticed that the peal on the clock tower was working properly and the bings and the bongs weren't going in sequence properly.
"It's something that the public of Darlington have enjoyed for almost 150 years and it would be nice to have it back." The clock, by Cooke of York, was donated to the town by Joseph Pease and the tower designed by Quaker architect Alfred Waterhouse in 1861.
* Read the full story in The Northern Echo today.
Comments(3)
chris.mckay
says...
4:56pm Thu 7 Apr 11
Chris McKay
PC mcgary no452
says...
5:32pm Thu 7 Apr 11
chris.mckay wrote:Cooke did make many clocks, but the drive train style and design is only one of four ever made... Another snippet of info for you....
Even less right. Cooke of York made over 100 turret clocks. Chris McKay
When the bells arrived for the town clock, the two lightest bells were in the wrong key. The Preist of St Cuthberts (a keen bell ringer) realised that these two bells would make up an octave if added to the then 6 bells. As a consequence, Joseph Pease donated them to the church and paid for the re-casting of the correct bells for the town clock.
The hour bell of the town clock also has a swinging clapper inside the bell. This was used to manually chime the hour bell to summon the firemen if a fire had been reported.
PC mcgary no452 says...
1:38pm Thu 7 Apr 11