Restoration reveals church clock’s true colour

[ THE FOUR DIALS on the clock tower of St Lawrence Jewry in the City of London have been faithfully restored, gilded with gold leaf and painted black – the original colour, discovered during the restoration process.

In October last year a team of four from Smith of Derby – comprising Rich, Tim, Dan and Mak – travelled from the Clockworks in Derby to London with the dials. Under the guidance of project managers from Bakers of Danbury, and with the assistance of the scaffolding team from Fourways, they were successful in refitting the dials to the clock tower which overlooks the Guildhall square and can be seen from much of the City.

There has been a church on the present site of St Lawrence Jewry since the 12th century. The first church is thought to have been built in 1136 and was destroyed in the Great Fire of London. It was one of many re-built by Sir Christopher Wren. Work began in 1670 and was completed in 1677. It was one of Wren’s most expensive City churches. The name Jewry is a geographical descriptor: before the great fire of 1666 there were over 150 churches in the City and some had the same saint’s name. To distinguish them another title was attached and that is why so many of the City churches have interesting and odd names. The church is located close to a street called Old Jewry, where a Jewish community lived from 1066 to 1290. They came to the country with William the Conqueror and were expelled by Edward I –hence St Lawrence Jewry.

During the restoration process it was discovered that, while the dials had at some point been painted blue, their original colour was in fact black; and it is with that colour that they have been restored.

Richard, who worked in the team to refit the dials, described how the dials were in a poor state of repair when they removed them. “There were a lot of rotten sections in the lower portions of the dial,” he said. “The copper sheet was coming away from the iron frame, where it had all delaminated. They’ve done a cracking job in the workshop. They’ve cut out all the rot, all the old bad metal, restored them fully; and obviously the crowning glory on the dials is the gild.”

Working in close collaboration with architects Julian Harrap, project managers Bakers of Danbury and the scaffolding team at Fourways, the Smith of Derby team – both on-site for removal and reinstallation and at the Clockworks for restoration and finishing – have shown the diligence and care that can be brought to bear when working to restore dials on a historic and culturally significant building. q

• For further information visit the website at www.smithofderby.com, call 01332 345569 or contact Jane Betts at jane.betts@smithofderby.com