The 350-year-old clock on the North Tower of Wentworth Woodhouse is chiming again after six decades – and the generosity of Rotherham mum Patricia Rolllinson, played a big part.
Patricia donated £10,000 to Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust’s £15,000 Just In Time fundraiser to restore its North Tower clock and bells in memory of her son, Lee Rollinson, who died in 2021. Brinsworth lorry driver and father of three, Lee, loved walking through the grounds of Rotherham’s Grade I listed stately home and surrounding countryside.
His mum’s generous gift meant the appeal reached its target in just two weeks. Repairs got underway swiftly and she now has a special place to remember Lee. The Trust invited 82-year-old Patricia and her adopted son ‘little Lee’ to the mansion as a thank you.
They got to admire the clock and its quarterly chimes and were treated to an extra-special, behind the scenes tour of the house and lunch in the Butler’s Pantry Café. As an extra thank you, Lee’s initials have been added to links on the East Front iron chain as part of the Trust’s ongoing Forge A Link campaign.
The North Tower, which sits at one end of the mansion’s Palladian East Front, has two clock faces and a set of bells which rang out on the hour for over a century. They last chimed over 60 years ago when students of the Lady Mabel College of Physical Education were in residence and the clock stopped in recent years.
“I am so glad I made the donation. It was definitely money well-spent,” said Patricia, of Dinnington.
“After our tour today I realise how many repairs are still needed. Donating in Lee’s memory feels like he is helping the Trust, and it gives us somewhere special to come and remember him. It feels like the clock bells are chiming for him.”
Added Patricia: “I think he would have been amazed and very happy. He came here regularly to walk his Staffy and was always talking about the house but never went inside, so I’ve fulfilled that ambition for him too.”
The Trust’s Fundraising Manager Carole Foster said: “Patricia helped us so much. We needed £15,000 and the money she and 222 other donors gave us meant we could swiftly get on with the renovation of the clock and chimes.
“Without her generosity, it could have taken another 12 months to hit our target and we would then have lost out on a £2,000 donation. It was pledged by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers provided the repairs could be completed by the summer.”
The North Tower, its clock faces and gold weathervane underwent extensive restoration in 2021 and a Barnsley clock restorer worked unpaid to get the clock working temporarily.
The Just In Time campaign provided funds to repair the unsafe floor in the room housing the clock mechanism, and bring in horologist Adrian Overton, of The Arkwright Repair Shop at Cromford Mill, near Matlock, for cleaning, repainting and re-calibrating.
Said Adrian: “Wentworth Woodhouse’s clock 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 it and get it running to time and chiming again.”
To support the Trust’s Forge A Link campaign, which is creating a new, hand-forged chain to replace an original installed by Flitcroft, which was probably smelted down to make ammunition in WW1, click here.