Wiltshire church clock restored after decades broken

The clock has not chimed for 15 years

A church clock that has been out of action for 15 years has been restored.

Christ Church in Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire has had its clock tick once more after receiving a grant from the National Lottery Heritage fund.

The clock dials, which had become badly weathered, have been regilded and worked on by specialist clock makers, Smith of Derby, who refitted the clock mechanism.

Gillian Ellis-King, project coordinator, said she "shed a tear".

Speaking to BBC Radio Wiltshire, Ms Ellis-King said: "It was so exciting to see that clock go up.

"Just to see it come to reality, this is an idea that has been going on for years and we finally put an application in after covid and here we are.

"It's just fantastic to see people of all ages celebrating a landmark, that you can see for miles around, being restored."

The National Lottery helped cover the costs of the clock face

The church was awarded a total of £239,000 from the National Lottery Funding and used part of the fund to restore the clock.

Ms Ellis-King added that schoolchildren at Christ Church Primary School helped secure the funding.

She said: "The children will remember this for the rest of their lives.

"The children at Christ Church were a huge reason we got the grant, they put forward their ideas that were included in our bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, so it is down to the participation of young people that we got this grant."

The associate priest, Reverend Tessa Mann, gave a blessing over the clock as it was lifted into place on Wednesday.