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In the north-east corner of the Courtyard Garden, an antique clock has been restored and fitted within the turret. This clock was originally housed in the Company’s Almshouse in Lee, and was moved to its current location only recently.
The building of the almshouses at Lee, conceived to care for the City’s elderly and poor, was begun on 7th July 1825 in the Mastership of Richard Jennings. The Company’s historic almshouse at Tower Hill only catered for 16, whilst the new almshouse at Lee was built to accommodate 32 almswomen. The Lee Almshouse was completed in 1826.
On 20th April 1826, as the almshouse at Lee neared completion, the Company Court “ordered that a Chiming Clock be procured for the new Almshouses, and that it be referred to the Master to make such arrangement for placing the same as he shall think necessary and proper.” The clock, which was displayed above the entrance way of the Lee Almshouse, is that which chimes before us here in the Hall courtyard.
The mechanism bears an ornamental plate engraved with the names of the Master and Wardens, the clockmakers and the date, 1826.The clockmakers were Duplock & Wiggins of Southwark. Charles Duplock had been a clockmaker in Southwark or Borough since 1790, and went into partnership with Mr Wiggins in 1817. The clock face is a facsimile of the original. It is made of enamelled and painted copper, with gilded numbers and hands.
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Moving the clock to the Hall has been a long and complex project, and was installed between 2015 and 2017. Design work and permissions were supplied by Martin Ashley Architects, and included not only the clock but also the new War Memorial. Matching stone for necessary repairs to the turret was obtained from a quarry near Leeds.
The clock mechanism was removed from the almshouses, restored, and installed in the turret by Public Clocks Ltd, who also supplied the facsimile dial, new drive shaft and bevel gears, and an automatic winding unit. In 1826, the Company had to engage the services of John Bennett of Greenwich, clockmaker, to “wind, clean, regulate and repair” the clock at five guineas a year. Otherwise, the clock is still controlled by its original mechanism. The only noticeable difference is that it is now silent, and does not chime.
