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The landmark Terry’s Clock tower in York is ticking once more, after falling silent for the last 18 years. The BBC reports that the site of Terry’s chocolate factory in the city was closed in 2005, and the clock stopped working. Now specialist developers PJ Livesey have restored it to full working order.
The firm are redeveloping the former chocolate factory and clock tower into apartments, and commissioned Smiths of Derby to restore the clock face and source original parts so that the mechanism could be restored.
Georgina Lynch is managing director of the PJ Livesey Group. She said: “This is a momentous day and we are very grateful to the team at Smith of Derby for providing the skills to make it happen.”
“The Terry’s clock was once known as the ‘kitchen clock of York’ and part of the City’s heritage and we are very proud to have played our part in seeing it restored. Terry’s is synonymous with York and the buildings are now saved and repurposed for generations to come.”
The Terry’s chocolate company started life as a sweet shop owned by Robert Berry and William Bayldon in 1767. They were joined in the business by the chemist Joseph Terry and he became the sole owner in 1830.
Terry proved to be a good businessman as well as a skilled confectioner and chocolatier, and the company thrived and was passed on to his sons upon his death in 1850.
The York factory near Bishopthorpe Road and Campleshon Road was built in 1926 and was the birthplace of some of the best-loved Terry’s products, such as All Gold and the Chocolate Orange. Terry’s was taken over by Kraft in 1993 and since then production has gradually shifted away from York, with the factory finally closing for good in 2005.
Sales and complex projects manager for Smith of Derby, Martin Butchers, said: “This has been an amazing project that has required not just all our skills but some deft detective work by the team.”
He added: “Terry’s is a rare Waiting Train Clock, made by Gents of Leicester, which is powered by an electrical impulse from a master clock. It was a visionary concept, well ahead of its time, but by the 1940s had already started to fall out of use.
“When we came to remove the clock, we were absolutely heart-broken to discover that the actual mechanism was not there. Despite extensive inquiries and a great deal of effort by many, many people it was never found so we set about finding original parts to recreate it.”
“The workings of the clock are made up of the central waiting train and master clock, the trickle charger, low voltage warning bell and batteries together with connecting rods and joints.”
The clock tower was on English Heeritage’s Buildings at Risk Register before the current restoration work was completed, together with the other listed buildings on the factory site.
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