Cardiff's famous Pierhead Clock is set to move to a new home.
Under plans submitted to Cardiff Council, the iconic clock could be moved from St Mary Street in the city centre, where it has been for the last 10 years, to inside the walls of Cardiff Castle, less than half a mile away.
The clock was built in 1896 for the Bute Docks Building in Cardiff Bay and was acquired by the council in 2005, having been left unused in the workshop of American collector Alan Heldman for nearly 30 years.
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After returning to South Wales, the clock's original mechanism was installed in a piece of contemporary art in the pedestrianised area of a redeveloped St Mary Street.
But as the recent planning application submitted by architecture firm Scott Brownrigg states, this location left the installation vulnerable to weather damage and vandalism, with a maintenance fund of £10,000 that was established in 2011 now depleted.
The application also says the clock is "at risk" and "consistently sustains damage" from people, birds and the weather. It requires repairs estimated at around £8,500 after suffering water ingress and damage, while its information panel has also been removed following an accident involving a vehicle.
If the plans are approved, the castle will repair the damaged clock before its installation within the foundations of the pre-existing Norman walls.
The 130-year-old mechanism which originally powered the landmark clock was designed by Lord Grimthorpe and is almost identical to that of London’s Big Ben. Built by William Potts & Sons of Leeds, it was installed with the clock at the Pierhead building in 1897.
But in 1973, the original mechanism - which weighs 1,000lbs and needed to be wound once a week - was ripped out by British Rail, who replaced it with an electronic drive motor.
It was then sold at auction in London, where a man recorded as “Mr Pearce of London” bought it and then sold it on to clock enthusiast Mr Heldman, in Birmingham, Alabama.
He hoped to restore the clock but family problems prevented him from starting work on it, leaving the ancient mechanism languishing, forgotten in the workshop next to his house.
It was only when he read an article about Cardiff’s missing clock in a journal, followed by a chance encounter with the journal’s editor, that plans for the clock’s return were put in place.
A heritage impact assessment submitted as part of the application reads: "The Bute Docks Building Clock already has a history of relocation, moving from the Pierhead Building in Cardiff Docks, to a workshop in Alabama, USA, then to the Cardiff Old Library, and finally to St Mary Street.
"A further move into Cardiff Castle will help to protect the clock from further damage and intends to integrate it into the Castle’s history. The clock already has various connections to the castle, through its original faces designed by William Frame, assistant to William Burges, and also through its current casing and monkeys that references aspects of the Cardiff Castle Old Library.
"The connection through the Bute family and their ownership of the Cardiff Docks and Cardiff Castle further strengthens the clock’s relationship to the castle and the history of Cardiff."
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