The rare 350-year-old clock on the North Tower of Wentworth Woodhouse is working and chiming again after six decades of silence – thanks to the skill of a Derbyshire horologist.
The Grade I listed mansion’s Palladian East Front, at 618 feet long, is graced with towers at either end. Its North Tower clock has two dials and chimed every 15 minutes since the 1700s but the chimes stopped 60 years ago while part of the house was used as the Lady Mabel College of Physical Education, and the clock stopped working in recent years.
The North Tower, its clock faces and weather vane underwent extensive restoration in 2021 and though a restorer worked unpaid to get the clock working, the result was temporary. So earlier this year, the Preservation Trust regenerating Wentworth Woodhouse launched the Just In Time campaign to raise £15,000 for clock repairs.
Clock restorer Adrian Overton, owner of The Arkwright Repair Shop at Cromford Mill, near Matlock, was called in after the appeal was met within two weeks. This was thanks to a Rotherham mum, Patricia, who gifted £10,000 in memory of her son. Further donations came from 222 supporters and the Trust was also able to secure a £2,000 grant from the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers.
Repairs were needed to the unsafe floor in the room housing the clock mechanism, then Adrian stripped down the clock and took it to his workshop, for cleaning, repairing, re-painting and re-calibrating.
A horologist for 36 years, Adrian worked for clock repairer Smith’s of Derby and in 2015 started his own business, Overton Clocks on Chatsworth Road, Chesterfield. He has restored clocks all over the country – including St Paul’s Cathedral’s, the gold clock on Bishop’s Gate in London, and Salisbury Cathedral’s clock, which is one of the oldest in the world.
The 51 year-old, who lives in Tansley, set up The Arkwright Repair Shop in 2021 after watching BBC’s well-loved TV series, The Repair Shop. He and a team of skilled craftspeople repair everything from old teddy bears and mechanical toys to gramaphones, clocks and watches.
Said Adrian: “I’d never been to Wentworth Woodhouse before and was really impressed by its size and grandeur, and how hard the Preservation Trust is working to repair it for local people.
“The clock on its North Tower is an incredibly rare working example of a pendulum clock, which was invented in 1653. It was handmade by the Paris family of Warwick some time before 1673, probably during the reign of Charles II, and apparently was bought second-hand by Wentworth Woodhouse’s owner, the 1st Marquess of Rockingham.
“It was a real pleasure to work on such an old and important timepiece and get it running and chiming again.”
Adrian’s work means £10,000 donor Patricia Rollinson now has a special place to remember her son Lee, who loved walking through the grounds of Wentworth Woodhouse and surrounding countryside.
“I am so glad I made the donation. It was definitely money well-spent,” said Patricia, 82, of Dinnington. “Donating in Lee’s memory is helping the Trust, and it feels like the clock bells are chiming just for him.”
To find out more about how you can support the latest fundraising projects at Wentworth Woodhouse, click here.