Pontypridd Town Clock, South Wales

Pontypridd Town Clock, South Wales Page dedicated to the history and ongoing restoration of the Pontypridd town clock, housed in St Catherines tower.

Efforts are being made to restore the clock and chimes to working order and look to see how we can keep it running in the future.

A cold one in the tower today! We had hoped to get the clock going for NY, however there was still a lot to be done. The...
31/12/2025

A cold one in the tower today!

We had hoped to get the clock going for NY, however there was still a lot to be done. There was the final bit of cleaning to be done on the final bit of motionwork in the belfry which connects the clock with the faces.

Al managed to get most the going train, chiming and striking trains reassembled on the flatbed.

On reassembly a problem was discovered with the “fly” and escapement on the going train (either wear or damage) and it’s not sitting correctly so Steve is kindly taking that away to the workshop to look at for us. Once that’s done and back from the workshop, the clock will be good to go.

Next time we’re there we’re planning on stripping and cleaning the winding motors to see what issues we find there! I’m reliably informed that particular job is a whole day.

Thanks as always to Al and Steve for their dedication to our town clock and to Keith Scobie-Young’s (Cumbria Clock Company) and the Antiquarian Horological Society their ongoing support.

Not long to go now. The finish line is in sight!

I was working today so Al was joined by Steve (Cumbria Clock Company) who is kindly donating his time to help out. Some ...
02/12/2025

I was working today so Al was joined by Steve (Cumbria Clock Company) who is kindly donating his time to help out. Some good work done today on stripping and cleaning the chiming train before reassembly of the newly cleaned “going train”.

There is some wear and excessive play in some of the parts which need addressing through some engineering solutions to ensure it all works but we are confident this can be resolved quickly.

There’s more work to do next week on continuing to reinstate the chiming and striking components and after that it’ll be the turn of the weights and winding motors for attention…. but the end is in sight.

As always, my thanks for the ongoing support of Al,
Steve, the AHS members, Cumbria Clock Company and Keith Scobie-Youngs in getting our town clock back to working order!

Stay tuned for more updates.

I may not have mentioned but I hate old grease. It gets into your hands and you can smell it for weeks afterwards. Conti...
22/11/2025

I may not have mentioned but I hate old grease. It gets into your hands and you can smell it for weeks afterwards. Continuing to clean the going train before the next session in the tower.

After work on the “going train” the other week, today was the turn of the “striking train” (the part of the clock that a...
10/11/2025

After work on the “going train” the other week, today was the turn of the “striking train” (the part of the clock that actions the hammer to strike on the Tenor bell on the hour)

Another solid few productive hours removing all of the parts which are covered in grease and residue of years of grime.

The flat bed is starting to look bare. Only the chiming train left which is looking to be complex (this operates multiple hammers which chime on the quarter hours and the hour). We can then clean the flatbed itself before starting re-assembly.

Taking it apart and cleaning it you can see the details, craftsmanship and love that went into building this clock in 1890.

Ongoing thanks to the AHS, Keith Scobie-Youngs and the Cumbria Clock company for their support with this beautiful project.

After months of working on the motionwork at the top of the tower, today Al and I have started on the 'going train' (mid...
28/10/2025

After months of working on the motionwork at the top of the tower, today Al and I have started on the 'going train' (middle bit of the movement) which is the timepiece.

After Al had wound down the weights and stopped the clock, we began removing parts of the movement and checking all of the various parts for wear.

On the left is the hour striking train (which strikes the hour on the Tenor bell) and on the right the 'quarter chiming train' (which sounds Westminster chimes on the quarter hours and hour).

The plan is to strip all of the various trains off so we can clean the flatbed frame and carefully reassemble and correctly oil moving parts.

There is more work to do on the weight winding motors for the striking and chiming trains and a service of the striking hammers (which sounds on the bells).

We’ll keep you posted….but for now a weekend spent with rags and white spirit lies ahead cleaning all the parts of years of oil, grease, grime and (inexplicably) WD40 - which Al informs me is the worst thing you could put on a clock movement.

We are indebted to Keith Scobie-Youngs and the Cumbria Clock Company for sponsoring this project.

https://clockmaker.co.uk/

More good work this afternoon with me and Al traversing the many ladders and the climb up to the top of the tower to con...
27/08/2025

More good work this afternoon with me and Al traversing the many ladders and the climb up to the top of the tower to continue work. There are many ladders and a challenging climb over the bells to get to the top.

It’s warm work in any weather!

Today we reinstated some of the cleaned motionwork which connect to the hour and minute hands on the clock faces.

These are ready for reconnecting (eventually) but for now these are wrapped in cling film to keep them free of dust and muck.

Some of the bits of the universal joints in the room below the faces have seized so we have removed these for cleaning

27/08/2025

Visiting band of Bellringers from Huddersfield ringing for an hour this morning at St Catherine’s, Pontypridd today. Great to hear all 8 bells being rung across the town!

08/08/2025

With the hands and dials disengaged, the clock has been set running in isolation to check the motors for the automatic winders work. Some issues with the chiming and striking motors (not working) but the movement motor (although needs adjustment) seems to be ok.

It’s a dirty job! Cleaning some of the bevels from the motionwork behind the dials. Removing years of oil, grease and di...
08/08/2025

It’s a dirty job! Cleaning some of the bevels from the motionwork behind the dials. Removing years of oil, grease and dirt and some inspections of the crazy leading off work lower down in the belfry.

Address

St Catherine’s Church, Gelliwastad Grove
Pontypridd
CF372UF

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