If you’ve visited Belmont recently, you may have noticed scaffolding around the Clock Tower. This marks the next stage of the courtyard development, with specialist conservation work now underway.
This week, a specialist team has carefully removed the clock faces, hands, weights and movement (the mechanism) from the tower. These components will travel to the Lake District, where they will be fully serviced and the copper dials repainted before returning to Belmont.
The clock above the stables at Belmont is a fine and historically important mechanism. It was commissioned as part of the redevelopment of the House in the late 1780s.
Supplied by the London retailer Jean Leroux of Charing Cross, the work was sub-contracted to the specialist turret clock maker, Charles Penton of Upper Moorfields in the city. It was probably the last clock Penton made as he died in 1789.
With the movement safely removed, work can now begin on the Clock Tower itself. Over time, the tower has begun to lean as joints within the timber structure have deteriorated. These repairs will carefully straighten and stabilise the tower before the restored clock is reinstalled.
The clock has an eight-day movement and strikes the hours on a large bell, with the quarter hours sounding on two smaller bells in the familiar ‘ting-tang’ pattern. Once the conservation work is complete, it will be ready to continue keeping time at Belmont for generations to come.
We’ll continue to share updates as the project progresses.