Repairs for Barnstaple's 'four-faced liar' clock

By awilshaw

A CLOCK tower whose four faces have told four different times to generations of North Devonians will remain a four-faced liar — even after thorough repairs.

The Albert Memorial clock tower — a Barnstaple landmark which has long amused local people and perhaps confused at least as many visitors — will be completely renovated next year.

The clock tower in the Square has not been significantly repaired in living memory but next year thousands of pounds will be spent updating its mechanism and making structural improvements.

But the four-faced liar, as the clock is locally known, will still be just that: the tower will still show four slightly different times on each side. The discrepancy will be retained because it is now considered to be part of the town's history.

The clock tower was planned, paid for and built in a matter of months in the mid-nineteenth century; it will now be repaired using money from a £188,000 Lottery grant, which will also help pay for improvements on the town's heritage trail, with extra signs and guided tours. The town council is also contributing £36,000 towards the improvements.

Barnstaple mayor Jeremy Phillips said: "We have wanted to repair the clock and revamp the heritage trail for many years and now, thanks to the extra funding, we will be able to begin this exciting project which celebrates all of Barnstaple's history."

The clock tower was paid for by public subscription and built in 1862; it was designed by R D Gould, the borough surveyor, who also designed the Bridge Buildings, Bridge Chambers, the Pannier Market and Butchers' Row.

The clock, which was built by John Pulseford, was a memorial to Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, who died in 1861. Civic bodies around Britain raised funds to build in memory of Albert; the Albert Hall in London is one famous monument to the man.

According to the history books, the first public reference to the scheme was in March 1862 when Barnstaple Town Council announced its intention to build a memorial tower.

In April, the council opened a subscription to collect money. The site was chosen by May and in June the foundation stone was laid, the clock bought for £100 and the bell cast. By December, the tower was finished.

On the opening day, December 13, a year after Albert's death, ex-mayor Mr Norrington set the 15ft pendulum of the clock going and it immediately struck the hour.

The Journal at the time reported that before Mr Norrington could take the first drink from a new fountain built with the clock, a man stepped forward and threw "about a teacup-full of what his olfactory nerves soon convinced him was gin".

Norrington, a teetotaller, was horrified. The culprit was John Baker, the landlord of the Mermaid Inn (which is now Blockbusters), a Tory who had won his seat "by beer and bribery", according to the Journal.

The town council has yet to reveal how it plans to celebrate the completion of the repairs next year.