Kingston church bell turned off due to erratic chiming

THE Vicar of St Luke's Parish Church in Kingston has been forced to turn off the church bell and clock because of its erratic chiming.

The church clock, which dates back to 1892 has been temporarily stopped at 1.25 following complaints about its unreliability and inaccuracy in correctly chiming the hours at the right time.

Vicar Father Martin Hislop told today how two of his parishioners 'valiantly' climbed up the stone stairs of the 88-foot tower, clambered up a ladder to the trap door and into the clock chamber to heroically turn off the power to the clock mechanism and pendulum and silence the chime-challenged bell.

Unfortunately, one of the parishioners, an un-named woman, suffered slight bruising when she stumbled, as she came down the step ladder.

The big decision followed a week of erratic chiming including just two chimes for the popular 8am Sunday morning service.

One local resident wrote on a community website: "Martin (Vicar) has now turned off the bells and is trying to identify a supplier of a more robust/accurate/flexible mechanism to ding the church bells.

"I am sure he would appreciate a recommendation if anyone knows of a company other than Public Bells England."

Earlier, he wrote: "Is it only me who is put out – yet again – by the Church Clock (St. Lukes) inaccurately chiming the hours? It 'dinged' 10 at 0600 this morning, 12 at 0800 and then weirdly 1 at 1000! I guess it is only likely to affect insomniac pedants such as me.. but if you are equally as concerned please email the Vicar.

"I realise he will say it is not his problem, that the clock is managed by Public Clocks, England BUT he is the conduit between this mortal world and the overseeing deity that are Public Clocks England."

Today Father Martin, who has been Vicar at the Anglo-Catholic church in Burton Road for 23 years, said: "The bell has been chiming at all sorts of strange times. It is controlled by some kind of mechanism and we thought it was better to turn it off altogether, which is not easy.

"Two of my parishioners very generously volunteered to climb up the spire and turn it off manually.

"We have been in touch with Public Clocks England but they say they are very busy and can't visit for at least two weeks. It is serviced every year but now needs a complete overhaul. It seems to have developed a mind of its own.

"I always hold my breath when the clocks change because it's some kind of device which should alter the time automatically but recently it has been behaving very strangely and erratically."

The 62-foot spire is the highest point in the area and after its completion in 1892 it took a year of fund-raising to get the £180 needed for a clock.

According to a church guidebook, the makers guaranteed the clock would be "one of the best ever placed in a tower."

On December 4th 1892 the Mayor of Kingston, Councillor J. Gridley drove in state from the Town Hall to St Luke's to set the new timepiece in motion.

The clock hands had been set at 10.55am and at exactly that time the Vicar, the Rev. George Swinnerton conducted the Mayor to the organ chamber where he was to pull a specially connected cord and set the pendulum moving.

According to the guidebook the Mayor pulled a the cord and "returned in stately fashion to his seat, confident he had earned a niche in local history by starting the most prominent clock in Kingston."

But the book adds: "In fact, he never started it at all. He had not pulled the cord sharply enough, so the Vicar gave it a surreptitious tug and, unknown to the packed congregation and large crowds outside, was in reality the one who set it going."

At the time the clock was described as a 'godsend' for the neighbourhood where those "fortunate enough to own a timepiece had to tell the time for everyone else."

At night those without a clock or timepiece were still in the dark over the correct time because, although the church clock had been "specially equipped with lighting apparatus, St Luke's could not find the £30 a year for the necessary gas."

"Eventually," says the guidebook, "the Town Council agreed to meet the lighting bill, conceding that a clock that could be seen from as far afield as Hampton Court was a worth public amenity."

Father Martin added: "There are quite a lot of young mums who live in the vicinity and I have been told by them that when they wake up in the middle of the night to feed their little ones they find the bells quite reassuring. You wouldn't choose to live near a farm if you didn't like animal noises, would you?

"The Parish is very keen to explore the options both practical and financial to ensure the clock and bell mechanisms are updated so that they continue to play the significant feature of the local scene that they have for over 130 years."

Nub News has attempted to contact Public Clocks, England but received no response.

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