Jubilee Clock Tower, Churchill facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Jubilee Clock Tower |
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Jubilee Clock Tower
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| Type | Clock tower |
| Location | Churchill, North Somerset, England |
| Height | 12 metres (40 feet) |
| Founded | 1897 |
| Founder | Sidney Hill |
| Built | 1898 |
| Built for | Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee |
| Restored | 1976–1977 |
| Architect | Joseph Foster Wood FRIBA of Foster & Wood, Bristol |
| Architectural style(s) | Perpendicular Gothic style |
| Governing body | Churchill Parish Council |
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Listed Building – Grade II
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| Official name: Jubilee Clock Tower and attached walls and railings | |
| Designated | 19 January 1987 |
| Reference no. | 1129198 |
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The Jubilee Clock Tower, striking clock, and drinking fountain, is a Grade II listed building in the village of Churchill in North Somerset, built to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. It stands on a plot between Dinghurst Road and Front Street, and is a prominent landmark at the entrance to the village. Designed by Joseph Foster Wood FRIBA of Foster & Wood, Bristol, the tower is made of local stone and is of perpendicular Gothic style.
The tower has a cast iron clock face on each of its four sides with one mechanism driving the clock hands. The escapement and clockwork mechanism is still in use and was supplied by J. B. Joyce & Co in 1898. The bell chimes on the hour and quarter-hour and the mechanism is wound every three days by volunteers. Responsibility for maintenance of the clock tower transferred to the parish council after the original trust could no longer afford to maintain it. The whole structure, tower, walls, and railings, was designated as a Grade II listed building on 19 January 1987, nearly 90 years after the tower was built.
History
Inception
In 1897, Sidney Hill, a local businessman and benefactor, purchased the old turnpike house, near the Nelson Arms pub in Churchill, and also a house and plot of land between Dinghurst Road and Front Street, near the entrance to Churchill village. Both sites were in a state of disrepair and were unsightly. Hill planned to clear the old buildings and debris, plant ornamental shrubs, and enclose the plots with iron railings; similar in design to the then plantation in front of the nearby Methodist church and schoolroom that Hill had built in Front Street, Churchill, in 1881. Furthermore, his intention was to build a clock tower on the Dinghurst Road and Front Street site to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
Design
Hill engaged Joseph Foster Wood FRIBA, of Foster & Wood, Bristol, to design the clock tower. He had engaged the same firm of architects to design the Methodist church and schoolroom. Foster & Wood was a busy architectural practice in Victorian Bristol and many landmark Bristol buildings were designed by them, including Fosters Almshouse (1861), Colston Hall (1864), the Grand Hotel on Broad Street (1864 to 1869), Bristol Grammar School (1875), as well as a large number of Wesleyan chapels throughout the city.
Build
The tower was built by the end of 1897, and the bell and clock mechanism were installed the following year by J. B. Joyce & Co. On 31 July 1901, Hill gifted the clock tower, along with the schoolroom next to the tower, to the Churchill Memorial Chapel and School Trust. Graham Clifford Awdry FRIBA, Joseph Foster Wood's former business partner, wrote in Wood's obituary, "A charming memorial tower at Churchill, Somerset, is a good specimen of his originality".
Restoration
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Architectural elements
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By March 1974, the wall surrounding the tower was crumbling, and the tower stonework required pointing and cleaning. The clock's winding mechanism was also in a poor state of repair and it would have cost a thousand pounds to mechanise it. The Churchill Memorial Chapel and School Trust, the trust responsible for the upkeep of the tower, had an annual income of £500 and was paid £12 pounds per year by the parish council to maintain the tower. The trust had asked for more help from the parish council, as they had concluded that it was not possible to maintain the tower and the other church properties for which they were responsible.
It was recognised that the long-term future of the tower lay either with listing the tower as an historic monument or that the parish council take over the maintenance of the tower. By September 1976, the trust had applied to the Charity Commissioner to have its responsibilities transferred to the parish council. In the same month, John Edgar Howard Smith, the managing director of Smith of Derby Group, the parent company of J. B. Joyce & Co, wrote to the parish council offering to carry out a free survey of the clock, although at the time of Smith's letter, the trust had recently refurbished and renovated the mechanism at a cost of £211.
In 1977, for the Queen's Silver Jubilee, the tower was cleaned by Arthur Raymond Millard BEM ("Ray Millard"), former chairman of Churchill Parish Council, and a team of volunteers. In 1979, a plaque was affixed to the west side of the tower to commemorate the work of Millard and the volunteers.
Maintenance
The Open Spaces and Allotments committee of Churchill Parish Council is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the clock tower. In 1980, contractors were engaged by the council to treat the tower with a chemical to discourage pigeons from roosting and soiling the ornamental stonework. In 1987, overgrown moss was removed from the wall and iron railings surrounding the tower.
Features
The tower has a cast iron clock face on each of its four sides, with Roman numerals indicating 12 hours on each face. The clocks are attached to a square tower that has buttresses to the first floor. One mechanism drives the faces on all sides of the tower. The second floor holds the clock mechanism and bell. A drinking fountain, with a cast iron tap and water pump fittings, is built into a niche on the east side of the tower. A bench has been installed outside the Reading Room in the clock tower enclosure and a new pathway constructed to provide disabled access.
The inscription on the string course below the bell floor reads:
- West "JUNE 20 1897 THIS TOWER"
- South "& CLOCK WAS ERECTED BY SIDNEY HILL JP OF LANGFORD HOUSE IN"
- East "THIS PARISH TO COMMEMORATE THE SIXTY YEARS OF THE BENEFICENT"
- North "REIGN OF HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA"
Images for kids
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The tower as photographed from Dinghurst Road, Churchill (west side)
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Entry to the tower is through a wooden door (north side)
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Clockwork installed on the second floor of the tower
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The four clock faces located on each side of the tower
