An Eden-based company has been painstakingly repairing the world’s most famous clock as part of a secret operation at its workshop in Dacre, near Penrith, while the bongs of London’s Big Ben have been silent.
The Elizabeth Tower conservation project is due to complete next year, and while much of the work has taken place in the capital, teams across the UK have contributed to the restoration – including the Cumbria Clock Company.
They have been busy cleaning, repairing and restoring more than 1,000 components of the Great Clock – including its wheels, pinions, bell-hammers and bearings – at its workshop near Penrith.
It was the first time that the entire mechanism had been removed from its home in the Elizabeth Tower. The Great Clock and its bells are affectionately known as Big Ben.
During the four-year project, the company made scores of photos, notes and drawings to help with the complex task of putting the Victorian masterpiece back together, as neither the designer Edmund Beckett Denison nor installer Edward John Dent kept detailed records of how it was constructed.
As a result the company, which specialises in historic turret clocks, has produced the first user manual and set of engineering diagrams of the mechanism for the benefit of future clock keepers.
Keith Scobie-Youngs, the company’s director and co-founder, said: “It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to work on the best-known clock in the world.
“We transplanted the heart of the UK up to Cumbria. We were able to assemble the time side, the heartbeat, and put that on test in our workshop, so for two years, we had that heartbeat ticking away in our test room, which was incredibly satisfying. It became part of the family and its departure has been like a child leaving home.
“The beauty of a clock like this is that you as a clockmaker become part of its history and want to leave it in a better place than you found it, so the next clockmaker can appreciate it.
“We were privileged to become part of the story of Big Ben – everyone at the company feels that attachment to the story.”
