Wigan Album

Not what I was expecting Rev, I was expecting loads of coggs, gears and shafts. Very complicated mechanism though.
Cheers Rev.

Curious as to what's currently wrong with the clock and any plans to fix it? Know that there is the whole save the spire campaign but the clock itself has been on 12:00 for a long time.

Good grief! I would never have expected to see so much engineering for the clock atop St Wilfrid’s! Whatever would they have done back in the mists of time?

Oh I see! Good heavens !

Marvellous it's as though time as stood still.

It reminds me of my old belt-driven Atlas lathe with four-jaw chuck.

Quite an incredible piece of machinery to I assume operate four clocks and the chimes, what a weight it must be.
How I wonder before the electric winding was installed was it operated? Presumably by some form of manual winding gear which must have been on a very regular basis?

That is beautiful, though not - as others have said - what I would have expected to see there. I hope you find someone with the skills and nerve to go up there and set it running again.

I am glad they kept the original clock mechanism though it appears to be electric winding.

Colin , I reckon there are only 3 clocks . There isn't one on the north side because at the time of building nobody lived in that vicinity .

Thanks Poet, I always assumed there were four, I must pop round and take a look!

There are three clocks - on the north, west, and south sides.
There is no clock on the east side.

There is no clock face on the East side of the tower - as it faces the roof of the nave, and is therefore largely out of sight.
From the date on the clock - 1913 - this mechanism is a replacement for an earlier one. In a pre-1822 painting there appears to have been a clock on the spire itself, and there's one on an image of the pre-1867 spire - but whether the mechanism was transferred from one spire to another, I don't know. Perhaps so - given that it was replaced in 1913. The electric winding is a later fitting, presumably dating from whenever electric lighting was installed in the church between the Wars.
The left-hand winding motor is for the chimes - the toothed brass dial just in front of it regulates the chimes and the hour-bell, whilst the motor on the right works the clock mechanism itself. The upright shaft left of centre takes the motion of the clock up to a gearbox from which radiate the three horizontal shafts which work the hands of the clock.
Public clocks such as this are usually maintained at the public expense by local councils - with the church cooperating to allow for the clockmaker to carry out maintenance.

Yes , sorry . I should have said east .

All quite fascinating, thank you.

Poet, it's north-east, so you were half right. Or it might be east-north-east, which means you were three-quarters wrong.

It's a church - the East end is where the altar is - irrespective of at which point of the compass it may actually lie.
St Wilfrid's is more or less East.

David, you would be no good as a ship's captain.

Churches in the Wigan area that have clocks that I know of are Wigan parish church, St James Poolstock, St Catherine Scholes, St Peter Hindley, St Thomas Ashton, St Aidan Billinge, St Paul Goose Green, St Thomas Upholland, and St Wilfrid Standish. St Paul's clock bells make a sweet sound. One church only 12 miles away but not in Wigan borough is at Worsley when at one o'clock the bells chime 13 times.

Speaking of ships, I have a picture of Miles Standish's replica ship the 'Mayflower' in Plymouth Harbour, Boston, Massachusetts.
I will send it to Brian to see if he would be kind enough to post it on WW.

Some of those you list are not Wigan churches as churches have nothing to do with the local council.

Mrs Y, that does not stop them from being in Wigan or Wigan Area.
Thank goodness the council do not have any control otherwise they would probably be demolished by now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a few photos of the replica Mayflower ship Colin. I went on it and got talking to the
re - enactors who were superb with the accents.
I told them I lived not far from Standish Nr Wigan. They made a big fuss of me thinking I was a relative of Miles Standish! LOL…;o)it was a brilliant holiday that one.

Talking about ships, not far from Standish in Chorley was the birthplace of Charles Lightoller, who was the second officer of the Titanic that became the most infamous sea disaster and he was a very lucky survivor.

Hi David - it's very similar to the one in Wigan Parish Church and a similar story. A plaque on the Wigan one says it was only installed in 1968 by W Potts Ltd of Leeds, but its appearance suggest it to be much older. Our research reveals that in fact it dates from 1897 when it was installed in St Andrew's Church, Bradford. When that church was demolished in 1967, the movement was taken back to the works in Leeds for reconditioning and electrification. It was then installed into the tower replacing the original one there (although a motor now winds it up, the mechanism still relies on weights dangling from a pully system). The guy who maintained it retired a few years ago they got somebody from Cheshire to get it going again (it looks very Heath Robinson with its wires and levers but it does work all the bells in the belfry).