Work has begun to move the historic Jubilee Clock as part of the redevelopment of Loch Promenade in Douglas.
The clock, which commemorates Queen Victoria’s golden Jubilee in 1887, has been dismantled once before but has always occupied the same position.
The operation which is phase one of improvement works to the seafront - involving the area between the Sea Terminal and Peveril Square - will see the clock move about 25 feet from its current position bringing it closer to the former Bushy’s pub building.
Jim Davidson, highways schemes manager for the Department of Infrastructure which is carrying out the work, said: ‘It’s a bit of an operation to do it with it being well over 100 years old. It weighs about two and a half tons and it’s made of cast iron.’
The clock was last dismantled in 1996 as part of the IRIS scheme and at that time it was sent away to the UK to be refurbished and repainted. To make the move the clock will be unbolted in sections and the clock faces removed before it is lifted piece by piece to its new location.
Work will start in October and take around two days once the new base is prepared and the electricity supply installed. Mr Davidson said the new clock will have seating around the base making it more of a focal point. Access for pedestrians will be made easier and there will be more space for traffic by the horse tram lines by the end of Victoria Street.
The clock is one of a number which marked Victoria’s jubilee. Weymouth in Dorset also has one. The only other built to the same casting however is in Rotherham in South Yorkshire.
Originally weight driven and lit by gas, the mechanism and illumination are both now electric.
