Western Morning News (Saturday)
Clock tower’s historic bells removed
THE clock tower bells in Truro have been removed as part of construction work – but they will return. Work began to restore the tower on Truro’s Municipal Building earlier this year.
As part of the works the historic bells were removed from the tower last week and images show the removal in process.
The clock and tower have a long history, but the current ones are not actually original.
There was a fire in 1914 when the clock half-fell into the council chamber of City Hall. Three of the four sides of the granite tower needed to be reconstructed and they were rebuilt using concrete and steel.
The steel has since corroded, which is the cause of the current restoration works.
The current clock was donated by Mr Lewis Daubuz. In the council chamber there is a brass plate commemorating this, although it states that the donor was anonymous. It was later revealed that Mr Daubuz was the generous benefactor.
The clock is a significant part of Truro’s history and when the Magistrate’s Court was situated in City Hall, it was a popular idiom to describe the court, or being due in court, as being ‘under the town clock’.
It was also a means for people in the city to tell the time if they did not have a watch.
Truro City Council says it looks forward to seeing the completion of the works to the clock tower in the spring of 2023.
Mayor of Truro, councillor Steven Webb, said: “I’m really excited to see the work continue. I never realised we had four bells!
“This gives me great confidence and joy that we will hear these bells ringing out over Truro on time in an orderly fashion next year.”