‘Masters’ TV profile of Cork clockmaker Philip is timely

The man who restored Cork city’s iconic Shandon clock is to feature in a new RTÉ series, Masters: Keepers of Tradition.

Cork-based horologist Philip Stokes was part of a specialist team — of structural engineers, a conservation architect, joiners, and stone repair contractors — that restored the landmark on Church St.

The famous clock was installed by the Cork Corporation in 1847, so it is one of the oldest four-faced clocks, pre-dating Big Ben in London.

The structure became known locally as ‘the four-faced liar’ because each of its four faces shows a different time.

Over the years, the clock’s faces, mechanism, and the bell supports all deteriorated and needed to be restored.

REPAIRS

Cork City Council received €250,000 from the Department of Heritage, Local Government, and Housing under the Historic Structures fund, and supplemented this with an additional €340,000 to fund repairs to the clock faces and clock mechanism.

The newly-restored building was unveiled earlier this year, showing freshly painted and gilded clock numerals, as well as minute markers, which had not been seen since the 1960s.

All four faces continue to ‘lie’ to onlookers, each showing slightly different times until agreeing on the hour.

Mr Stokes will feature in the new RTÉ series, Masters: Keepers of Tradition, a documentary about Irish practitioners of rare, traditional, and remarkable crafts and skills.

The show is inspired by the iconic series Hands, which first aired on RTÉ in the late 1970s and which gave powerful insight in to the lives and work of Irish craftspeople.

The goal of the series is to bring contemporary artisans back in to the public consciousness, while also shedding light on the current state of the craft community in Ireland.

CRAFT

Each episode will focus on one Irish craftsperson and their craft, with Mr Stokes featured in the fourth episode.

Viewers will get the chance to see Mr Stokes restoring the iconic clock, all under the watchful eye of his 90-year-old mother.

Other Irish craftspeople featured in the series are stonemason Julia Gebel, handweaver Beth Moran, basket weaver Joe Hogan, blacksmith John Hogan, and thatcher Marika Leen.

The first episode features Tipperary-based Gebel, who came to Ireland from Germany to restore the Rock of Cashel and never left.

In the episode, we see her carving the face of Irish revolutionary Dick Barrett in stone for a West Cork commission.

Episode one of the series, focusing on Ms Gebel, will air tonight from 8.30pm on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player.