New lease of life for landmark timepiece
A clock that has been a meeting point for Edinburgh couples for decades has been restored in time for Valentine’s Day.
The landmark on the corner of Princes Street and Hope Street, known locally as the Binns Clock, has traditionally been a point for couples to meet before heading off on a night out in the capital.
After falling into a state of disrepair in recent years, the elegant cantilever timepiece has been brought back to life as part of the new Johnnie Walker visitor centre development.
For the past year, it has been worked on by The Cumbria Clock Company, which previously restored The Great Clock housing Big Ben in London and the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool.
Mark Crangle, from the Cumbria Clock Company, said: “It has been a meticulous process restoring the clock to its original condition. We had to delicately strip back worn paintwork to source and match the clock’s original colours and gold trimmings, and we spent a great amount of time on the speed and timings of the bells, tunes and pipers to ensure it all matched perfectly.”
Johnnie Walker Princes Street will tell the 200-year-old story of its whisky across an eight-floor visitor attraction.
A fundraising appeal has been launched to repair a prehistoric elk skull once owned by Sir Walter Scott.
The “magnificent beast” and its gigantic antlers have presided over a doorway in the entrance hall of Abbotsford, Scott’s home in the Scottish Borders, since the 1820s.
Now, two centuries after Scott hung it there, the skull – thought to have belonged to an extinct species of elk that roamed the area more than 8,000 years ago – has broken due to the weight of the antlers.
The Abbotsford Trust, which cares for the A-listed property, says “substantial repairs” to save Scott’s prized artefact will cost about £2,000, and has asked for donations to cover the work.
Kirsty Archer-thomson, curator at Abbotsford, said: “Scott probably never imagined that these rooms would still look just as he had left them 200 years ago, so we not only need to repair the skull but also to find a 21st Century mounting mechanism that Scott would approve of.
“Thanks to the relatively new science of conservation, we now understand a lot more about how to mount these fragile yet heavy objects.”
The skull and its gigantic antlers were found in a peat bog near Hawick. The animal may have stood almost seven feet tall.
The artist behind a bronze sculpture of a Model T Ford, created to commemorate a remarkable car journey, has discovered a family connection to the occasion.
Mark Stoddart, a designer and sculptor from Ayrshire, oversaw the making of the full-size replica of the historic vehicle, which is installed in Fort William’s town centre.
It was made to memorialise the daring feat of Henry Alexander, who in 1911 drove a Model T Ford to the summit of Ben Nevis.
The three-tonne sculpture was a project already close to Mark’s heart, but it means even more since he discovered his great uncle lived in Fort William at the time and would have seen Henry Alexander pass through as he made his way to Ben Nevis.
“While looking into my ancestry, up came this relation, my grandfather’s brother on my father’s side, who lived in Fort William in 1911,” explained Mark, who usually creates high-end pieces of furniture.
“His name was Donald Stoddart and he lived on Cameron Road. I was quite amazed by it. I’ve no doubt he and his family would have watched Henry Alexander drive up Ben Nevis, because it was such a big event.”
The installation of bronze tyre tracks, which run from the car to the nearby museum, mean the £90,000 sculpture is now complete.
“Neil Tucket, who is an expert on Model T Fords, gave me a Dunlop tyre and I used that to take the treads from,” said Mark.