Historic Clay Cross church clock that has been out of action for six years removed for repairs

The clock, which belongs to St Bartholomew’s Church at Clay Cross, stopped ticking around six years ago.

Church warden Rod Leighton has been spearheading a project to restore the clock, securing a grant of around £2,500 from ChurchCare.

Rod said: “I just thought it was such a shame that the clock was out of action.

“The church is on the A61, in full view of the main road.

“The broken clock made the it look like the church wasn’t operational and it’s such a lovely church, dating back to the 1860s.

“The clock mechanism is really rare- it was produced by Smith of Derby in 1946.”

Experts from the Cumbria Clock Company ascended the church tower on Wednesday, October 24 to carefully remove the clock hands and mechanism, which took around four hours.

“We’re hoping it will be fixed in time for Remembrance Sunday,” added Rod. “It’ll be nice to mark the centenary that way.”