The Clock in St. Botolph's Church Tower
The early church clock
There are records of an early church clock. It is likely that this was a ‘blacksmith’s clock’ which would probably have required winding daily. It has been suggested1 that it came from the stables at Milton Hall, when the clock there was replaced.
Two excerpts from biographies of John Clare, mention his grandmother, Alice Clare, winding the church clock
‘Her name was Alice Clare. She had to walk through the schoolroom each day on her way to wind the church clock’2
‘The tramping schoolmaster had not been many days in the village before he made the acquaintance of a pretty young damsel, daughter of the parish-clerk. She came daily to wind the church clock, and for this purpose had to pass through the schoolroom, where sat Master Parker, teaching the ABC and playing the fiddle at intervals. He was as clever with his tongue as with his fiddlestick, the big schoolmaster; and while helping the sweet little maiden to wind the clock in the belfry, he told her wonderful tales of his doings in foreign lands, and of his travels through many countries’.3
St. Botolph’s bells
The church tower had been rebuilt in 1865 and has three bells. One of these was recast in London in 1866 with no inscription or maker’s name. There are two other bells – one dated 1618, inscribed “Let all make praise to God” and the other, cast in 1671, engraved with ”God Save the King”. These were both cast in Stamford by the Tobias Norris foundry.
Only one of the bells is struck by the clock.
In 1865, the church tower was rebuilt and a new clock installed in 1885
A brass plaque attached to the clock frame reads:
THIS CLOCK |
In the Grantham Journal, 24 January 1885, an article reported the erection of a Large Clock.
Repairs in 2014
Refurbishments to the clock face hands (and the weather-cock) were made in 2014.
Why the clock stopped
The stoppage was due to 2 problems: there was corrosion in the hands and gearing behind them and wear in the pulleys that carried the cables above the bells as well as the casing that surrounded them.
Re-installation in 2022
Making repairs where access was so difficult meant that the cost of such repairs was not very different from that of installing an electric winder. This new winder is constructed so that the clock movement is not altered from its original form, but only replaces the system of weights and pulleys that were original. Since it is automatic, there is no need for the weights to drop far enough to power the movement. The clock can still be manually regulated and set to the correct time.
In 2022, an electrically powered winding mechanism was fitted under the church clock in the tower of St Botolph’s. The clock had been out of action for 2 years, awaiting repairs to the hands and the system of weights that had driven it up until 2020. (The Covid restrictions contributed to the delay). These repairs/renovations were completed by Smiths of Derby who had installed the clock in 1885 and continued to maintain it. The cost of something over £8000 was initially met by the parish council, on the understanding that the church would repay half the cost. The 2022 Gala raised enough money to cover the church’s contribution.
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Sources
1 Local resident Roger Franks – who was the clock winder for 30 years.
2 Bate, J. (2005) John Clare, A Biography, Macmillan, London p.10
3 Martin, F. (1865) The Life of John Clare, Macmillan, London p.3 & 4
4 Benjamin Bull Snr and Benjamin Bull Jun are landowners on the Enclosure map 1820 (living in Helpston House).
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