St Michael & All Angels Church Dial Refurbishment

April 3, 2020 News

The village of Shirley, Derbyshire is the home to St Michael & All Angels Church. The clock at the Church was installed in 1902 and regularly cared for by Smith of Derby. As part of our work we have recently refurbished and repaired the Churches clock dial, to bring it back to its original fabricated aesthetic. As part of our work we have recently refurbished and repaired the Churches clock dial, to bring it back to its original fabricated aesthetic.

The picturesque village situated in the countryside in Derbyshire dates-back to the middle ages and is very well known for its historic buildings which range in date from the 14th century to the 18th century. The Church contained by the village dates to the 14th century being one of the oldest buildings the village of Shirly has.

The Church contains a Smith of derby flatbed clock which was fabricated in 1902 and has been kept in brilliant condition over the years of service. The flat bed clock uses a deadbeat and pin wheel escapement which subsequently moves the many gears in the clock keeping time.

The Refurbishment and repair of the clock consisted of three main elements, the first of which was to strip the skeleton dial back to its bare metal. However, before this task was undertaken the dial had to be removed from the church. Since the dial was situated 8m above ground clockmaker Sam working alongside IRATA level 3 specialist had to use rope access to remove the dial securely and safely.

Once the dial and hands had been removed and stripped back the second stage of the process was to paint the dial to its original colour blue, after the paint had dried it was ready for the application of size a bonding agent that allows gold to adhere to the surface providing a long lasting finish. The size which coated the hands, numerals and the minute track band had gold leaf applied. The dial covered in the gold was polished to provide a high-quality sheen that complements the blue finish.
The final stage was for brackets to be repaired; this was due to weathering of the old brackets. On the ropes once again, the clockmakers fixed the refurbished dial in place with the repaired brackets making the clock look as it would have when originally fabricated in 1902.

The treasurer of the church was delighted with the restoration work completed, he remarked that lots of locals and visitors comment on the clock. In addition, he thanked clockmaker Jason and Sam for their hard work and thought they were fantastic through the project doing every aspect safely and thoroughly.

About the author

Sam Welton: