Guyana’s oldest known public clock, a Barraud, was yesterday returned to the High Court. The clock was built in 1800 and installed at the High Court in 1887.

US Ambassador to Guy-ana, Roland Bullen, officially returned the clock to Guyana on behalf of the United States Government and the Smithsonian Institution who were responsible for its restoration.

Chief Justice Carl Singh, who received the clock, said that the High Court was pleased “to get this piece of history back in the court where it belongs.”

He said there had been some suggestion that after the clock was refurbished it should be accommodated at some other location. How-ever, Singh said, both he and Chancellor of the Judiciary, Desiree Bernard, felt that “the clock should come back to its home in the courts”. Once the clock is functioning properly, he said, there would be no excuse for court starting late or for the court failing to pay its staff overtime as the chimes would resonate each hour.

Justice Singh expressed gratitude to government of the USA, the Smithsonian Institute and the Smithsonian team of David Todd and David Shayt for the repair of the clock. But he said that the actual installation would incur further costs.

He said that Guyana does not have the necessary expertise to do the installation adding that “we need to get help as quickly as possible”. The US is also helping in the identification of persons to install the clock and Singh expressed the hope that the timekeeper would be installed early next year.

In a brief historical overview of the Barraud clock, Bullen said that it was built in London in 1800 by renowned clock master PP Barraud. The clock kept time for the court until the 1960s, when the years of rain and salt air took their toll.

In 1990, a team from the Smithsonian Institution came to Guyana to restore the clock at the Stabroek Market and was asked to examine and service Guyana’s public clocks, a task the Smithsonian agreed to undertake as a research project. The project was funded by the Smithsonian Biodiversity of the Guianas Project.

At the request of then Chief Justice Rudolph Harper, a team led by Shayt took the Barraud clock back to Washington, DC for restoration. Todd, the clockmaker and museum specialist, spent six months restoring the clock.

Todd told the media that he did most of the work on his own with some help from a friend who has since retired.

They made some new parts and repaired others. On purpose some pieces were not restored because of their historical significance. These include the bell which shows the date of manufacture of the clock.

The hammer to strike the hour on the bell is also missing, Todd said, adding that they did not know what kind of hammer to make so that was still a challenge for the high court to restore the clock to proper time keeping.

Other pieces not restored include the brackets and fittings in the tower.

Ideally, he said that those brackets should be replaced because they would have been weakened by rust and could cause the clock to fall over.

With this phase of the clock’s restoration completed, Todd feels that the new life span will depend on the care it gets.

He sees no reason why it should “not last for another 200 years”. He said that clock was made to endure the tropical climate as it has heavy cast-iron parts and thick brass gears with low-cost engineering.

Noting that the timepiece was in existence since 1800 during the period of Dutch governance, Shayt explained that prior to 1887 when the High Court was built there is evidence that the clock might have been accommodated at Parliament Buildings from the 1820s (when that building was erected) as there is a “clock hole” the size of the Barraud clock.

Prior to the 1820s, he said, there was evidence from drawings that the clock might have been housed at the barracks which was in the vicinity of the high court from about 1806.

The previous years could not be accounted for but “there is a good trail of building ownership of this clock.”

Todd and Shayt made several trips to Guyana to work on the other public clocks including those at the municipal markets Stabroek, Bourda, La Penitence and Kitty in Georgetown; Corriverton and New Amsterdam and the Botanical Gardens