The church records show that the wooden, diamond shaped clock was first fixed to the south wall of the tower in 1828. However there is earlier evidence of a clockface on St Mary’s tower in the John Butler Sketch of 1786 and a watercolour of 1782. It is recorded that that face was moved and installed higher up in 1862. The East and West faces were added in 1898 – they are differentiated by their slightly convex blue faces. The South face had disappeared between 1898 and 1937 when it and the North face were installed – flat but thicker clockfaces. So it is only post-1937 that all four faces were evident.
For many years after though the clock is recorded as ‘useless’ until 1862/3 when a new 5 foot copper dial was raised 22 feet higher and placed under the parapet in the centre of the south tower face and the movement repaired. The current clockwork movement was installed in 1898 by Smith & Derby with North and South dials. Confusingly though the records also say ‘north and south dials were added in 1937’ – were these replacements or did they mean West and East?. – (information from ‘St Mary, New Shoreham, A Building History’ by Michael Norman)
Timeline of clockface placement
1782 Diamond shape clock from 1782 (or earlier) visible until 1862
1862 New clock on South face 20 ft higher 1862 to 1898
1898 East and west face only installed from 1898 – 1937 Note, the South face was removed (the church records state new N&S faces is an error)
1937 South and North added (the church notes about N&S faces are correct)
