HIGH FLAW STARES LOCALS IN FACE

Submitted by Editor on Thu, 24/05/2012 - 15:25

When Spurtle posted pictures of Pilrig St Paul's Church on Facebook last Sunday, including the one shown right, we were surprised at the quick response and keen eyesight of reader Scott Fergusson.

Scott had worked for the architects who restored the building about 20 years ago, and noticed at the time that the dial facing north along Pilrig Street had a major flaw. In roman numerals, 9 appeared twice thanks to the proof-reading skills of someone who – at close range at least – could not tell their IXs from their XIs (see below-right). The date of the mistake being made is unclear.

The Pilrig clock was not part of the original plan for the building (see Canmore's image here). However, it was accepted as a gift from a Mr Biggar, father-in-law of the Pilrig Free Church's energetic and Disruptive minister Dr William Garden Blaikie around the time of the building's completion in 1863. (The suite of halls was not added until nearly 30 years later.) The mechanism and faces were supplied by the (then Broughton Street) firm of James Ritchie & Son Limited.

[img_assist|nid=3046|title=|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=200|height=200]The clock was illuminated, and as such was extremely useful to benighted, fogbound or grog-muddled locals negotiating the boundary between Leith and Edinburgh. Recognising this public benefit, Leith Town Council granted 30/- per year towards its maintenance between 1880 and 1888. In 1889, the gas commissioners supplied the gas free for a year, but then stopped. From then on, Leith paid for the gas but stopped the maintenance payments. Edinburgh Town Council agreed to pay for the illumination of the south-facing dial in 1893.

In 1873, notes the St Paul's session clerk Ebenezer Turner, some 600 cups and saucers and 50 plates were being stored in the church's tower (presumably in case friends popped round unexpectedly for tea). Unfortunately, they received 'the unsolicited attention of a "vagrom" clock-weight with disastrous consequences'.

Interestingly, Pilrig St Paul's is not the only muddled clock face in Edinburgh. Benjamin Vulliamy's west-facing dial on Register House was installed in 1790, and until recently two XIIs were clearly visible on it. Mysteriously, some effort seems to have been made lately to conceal or repair the mistake but the result is not pleasing (see below).

James Ritchie & Sons Ltd continue to restore and replace many of Edinburgh's public clocks. 'On site,' claims its website, 'our skilled craftsmen reglaze skeleton dials – chipping out old glass or prespex [sic]; repairing damaged metal frameworks; and reglazing. In the workshop our clockmakers manufacture skeleton, copper and GRP dials; Numerals are marked out and gilded in gold leaf for clear and long lasting appearance.'

Many interesting stories of Pilrig St Paul's early years are contained in two books available at the Central Library: Ebenezer Turner's The Story of Pilrig Church (Blackwood & Sons, 1913); Stuart S. Sime's The Kirk at Pilrig (D&J Croall, 1993). The latter was particularly helpful in pointing us in the right direction, a long-standing and much appreciated Pilrig service to strangers.