[1]Notes on the clock and chime assembled by C J Pickford

• Clock by Potts 1890, bells by Warner 1889 8-0-1, 9-3-14, 13-0-7, 23-3-15, 78-0-11 (74”). Town Hall demolished 1971. RHD 1/42 p.1729 (Potts clock archives - Ron Dove’s notebooks)

• The recent “Potts of Leeds” book by Michael Potts has a picture of the Town Hall (p.104) and says that the clock was stored in large boxes at Joyce of Whitchurch after the old Town Hall was demolished in 1971. “It was restored in 1991 and is now on prominent display in the civic centre built on the site of the former town hall”. Bells not mentioned, but it sounds as though the clock was reinstated

• David Cawley posted a letter of 9 December 1980 from the Chief Executive at The Town Hall and Civic Centre, Sunderland SR2 7DN “Dear Mr Cawley / Bells from Sunderland Old Town Hall / With reference to your letter...the bells, and, in fact, the whole mechanism of the clock from the old Town Hall are still in existence. The four chime bells are stored in the service yard here at the new Town Hall and Civic Centre, and the strike bell, which, as you suggest, weighs in the region of 4 tons, is stored by my Council’s Public Work Department. All the bells were cast in 1889 by John Warner & Sons of London. The clock mechanism is also crated and stored here at the Civic Centre ... (it is by) Messrs. William Potts & Sons of Leeds. Up to the present time, no decision has been made as to the future of the bells or the mechanism.”

• Mike Chester added “The story, as I have it, is that when the old Town Hall building was demolished the quarter bells were stored somewhere in the new Civic Centre, (the car park comes to mind for some reason), and the hour bell went to a depot just off the Durham Road, (was it Eden Vale, Howard?). All trace of the bells was lost around the mid/late 80s and there was certainly nothing there when the depot was redeveloped a few years ago.” (April 2006)

• The Old Sunderland Town Hall was demolished in 1971 and all that has been kept in storage is the hour chime bell from the clock tower. It is now planned to mount this bell on a plinth in the city centre and I have been asked to try and find someone with the knowledge to give me an approximate weight of this bell for structural purposes. I will tell you what info I have and size of the bell and hopefully you may be able to help. The bell was made by John Warner and Sons of London in about 1890. Base circumference 5.7 metres. Base diameter 1.8 metres. Height 1.5 metres. (e-mail from Derek Pace, Chief Executives Dept, Sunderland City Council to GAD, Jan 2010)

• Clock by Potts 1890, bells by Warner 1889 8-0-1, 9-3-14, 13-0-7, 23-3-15, 78-0-11 (74"). Town Hall demolished 1971. RHD 1/42 p.1729 (Potts clock archives - Ron Dove’s notebooks)

• Clock 1890. Architect, B Binyon of Ipswich in 1887 (List of Potts clocks with Warner bells - from Michael Potts, December 2003)

• Ringing World article by Chris Teasdale, 16 Apr 2021 pp336-7.

Published: 15/06/2024