Patrick Comerford
The ‘Little Admiral’ has been missing from the clock at the Church of Saint Martin Le Grand in York for four years or more and was something of a landmark in the city.
Many people have memories of the ‘Little Admiral’ dressed in 18th century attire standing on top of the clock on the Coney Street façade or east end of the church on Coney Street, taking sightings of the sun with his sextant.
He has been missing for a long time now, though there are assurances that he is in safe hands with the Cumbria Clock Company which is repairing cracks in his wooden body.
The admiral is almost 250 years old, and he has had to cope with wind, rain and all types of weather. He is said to date back to 1778, and for centuries he sat on a revolving mechanism that turns on the strike of each hour.
Indeed, there has been a clock at the church since the late 17th century. The first clock on Saint Martin Le Grand was fixed to the east wall in 1688. It was replaced in 1778 and when this clock was replaced in 1856 the Little Admiral was transferred to the new timepiece. Sitting on top of the clock, the naval officer was poised taking an observation of the sun.
The gilded head on the other side of the clock represents Father Time. It replaced the original head, damaged when York was bombed during World War II. The clock and the Little Admiral and Father Time have survived many restorations over the years. The clock has been restored several times, including following the bombing of Coney Street in 1942 by the Nazis, and the clock mechanism was restored by George Newey & Son during the restorations of the church in 1966.
Originally, the Little Admiral rotated to follow the sun, but with 21st century electronic programming he also revolved when the hour strikes. But he was taken down at the end of 2021 because the figure was damaged.
Canon Liz Hassall, priest-in-charge of York City Centre Churches, said at the time that the Little Admiral was taken down when a routine maintenance inspection revealed splits and other damage to the figure.
He was sent to a specialist workshop in Carlisle, the Cumbria Clock Company, for repair, but there are no signs yet of him making a return. Since then expert advice has been sought to identify appropriate conservation expertise. The figure received some initial preventative treatment, and he is now with a specialist conservator for endorsement of restoration proposals before permissions are sought.
‘This will take some time and an early return is most unlikely,’ Canon Hassall told local media. ‘There will be clear publicity when the figure is to return.’
Coney Street is one of the principal pedestrianised streets in the heart of York, and Saint Martin’s Church at the north end of the street, within York’s central core conservation area, is listed Grade II*.
In the past, Saint Martin’s was a prominent parish church in York and was one of the more prominent and substantial of the mediaeval parish churches, so that it became known as Saint Martin-le-Grand.
Saint Martin’s dates from the 12th century but it was developed and rebuilt over successive centuries, ultimately comprising a nave with clerestories, south and north aisles, an early 15th century tower and a south porch added in restorations carried out in the mid-19th century.
The church is surrounded by other buildings in a way that typifies the density of mediaeval cities. To the south and west there is a flagged area that is the remnant of the closed churchyard.
When the Mansion House was built nearby as the residence of the Lord Mayor in 1730, Saint Martin’s became the official civic church.
Saint Martin’s was merged with nearby Saint Helen Stonegate in 1910. A generation later, the church was bombed in 1942 and much of it was destroyed in the fire that followed.
Saint Martin’s was left a ruin after World War II and services were moved to Saint Helen Stonegate. It was reduced to the status of a chapel of ease in 1954, and stood desolate until restoration work began in 1961.
The church was extensively remodelled and rebuilt in 1961-1968 to designs by George Gaze Pace, and was re-consecrated as a ‘shrine of remembrance for all men who died in the two world wars’ and as ‘a chapel of peace and reconciliation between nations and between men.’
It is said to be the largest complete church restoration project by Pace. It now includes the south-west tower, the south porch, a nave fashioned from the former south aisle, a short north transept and a narrow north aisle. The rest of the site, including all of the original north aisle and the majority of the nave was transformed into an enclosed courtyard garden all to Pace’s design.
The square tower has three stages topped with a gilded iron weather vane. The tower is perhaps the only part of Saint Martin’s that is visible from any distance through the cluttered roofscape of central York. The belfry has a full peal of eight bells that are rung regularly. The bells sound the hours for the Coney Street clock and, since 2012, specially composed quarter chimes. Bell ropes pass through the bell chamber and manual ringing is carried out from positions around the font.
Inside the church, the magnificent 15th century Saint Martin window was originally the great West window of Saint Martin’s. It was given in 1437 by Robert Semer, Vicar of Saint Martin’s in 1425-1443.
The window was taken down in 1940 for safekeeping and so survived the war-time destruction. Pace designed the reconstructed north transept to display the masterpieces in its full glory.
At the East End, the reredos depicting the Last Supper was designed by Frank Roper in 1968. The modern East window by Harry Stammers (1965) depicts the church engulfed in flames in 1942.
Holy Communion is celebrated in Saint Martin’s Church each Wednesday at 12:15.
The enclosed courtyard garden occupies the site of the destroyed greater part of the church. This dates from the Pace restoration and is intended as a reflective space dedicated to remembrance and to the maintenance of peace. The features of the garden include a symbolic tree, a reflective pool of water as the source of life. But as it is inward looking, it becomes an expression of spirituality.
Access to the courtyard has been designed intentionally to be a non-direct path. It is reached through a gateway or through the church. ‘We travel a long and winding path in our lives, and our lives are enriched by it. The route in reflects a pilgrimage and access was not supposed to be direct. The imagery here is the contrast between the world in the street and the city outside and the garden “paradise” within.’
The church is named after Saint Martin of Tours, the patron saint of soldiers, whose Feast Day is 11 November, which is also Armistice Day. Today, Saint Martin’s is a mere fragment of the mediaeval original, but it is now a haven of calm in the heart of York.
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