Centuries-old clock faces taken down for a repaint

Abseiling engineers have taken down four village church clock faces ahead of a major renovation programme.

The clock faces of St Mary's Church, in Bures on the Suffolk-Essex border, have not had a clean-up in more than 100 years.

They were each installed on the medieval building during the Industrial Revolution period to help workers in the village keep track of time.

They have been transferred to a specialist centre in East Sussex to undergo a 25-carat gold leaf revamp.

"They will strip them back to the bare copper and redo the painting with 25-carat gold leaf on the numerals and new paint," said Reverend Daniel Whiffin.

"We hope they will be back in about five weeks' time towards the end of March, ready for Easter."

The removal of three of the clock faces from the top of the church's tower took all day on Tuesday, while the final one was "carefully" taken down on Wednesday.

"The clocks have been important to this village for a long time," added Whiffin.

"Bures has an industrial heritage, and the clocks were installed during the Industrial Revolution.

"So, they're a symbol for the village of its heritage and they are important for the church."

The renovations were funded by a financial legacy left behind by the village's Probert family, to "beautify the church".

Church warden Chris Tomkinson said that if the clocks could talk "they would have quite a story to tell".

"They haven't been renovated for over 100 years, and you couldn't even read a couple of the faces because they were that worn out," she said.

"They looked shabby and that reflected badly on the village - it made the village seem a bit shabby.

"When this came up it felt like the ideal way to spend the money."

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