St Sepulchre Without Newgate - Holborn Viaduct, London, UK
N 51° 30.996 W 000° 06.157
30U E 701022 N 5711255
The church of St Sepulchre Without Newgate stands at the western end of Holborn Viaduct at the junction with Snow Hill. The term "without" indicates that the church was located outside the Roman, or London, Wall. The clock tower is to the west.
Waymark Code: WMK9F7
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/04/2014
Views: 4
The clock is mounted on the bell tower at the west end of the church. It is housed in a purpose built stone recess that has some intricate carving. Sadly, the face is not in the best of condition. It has a convex face painted light blue but in the bottom half of the face and particularly on the left side the paint has started peeling. The minute and hour marks are painted directly on to the face and are gold in colour, These too are peeling especially in the area of 8 and 9. The hour marks are Roman numerals as used on a clock face with four being represented by "IIII" and not "IV". The hands, also gold, have a classical look to them.
The clock was the nearest to Old Bailey and Newgate prisons and the British History website tells us:
We come now to speak of the connection of St. Sepulchre's with the neighbouring prison of Newgate. Being the nearest church to the prison, that connection naturally was intimate. Its clock served to give the time to the hangman when there was an execution in the Old Bailey, and many a poor wretch's last moments must it have regulated.