As part of the major restoration that our church tower is currently undergoing, the clock has been removed and taken away to be fully restored.
This will involve not just the bits we will all see (a re-painted and guilded face and hands), but, probably more importantly a full overhaul and restoration of the clock mechanism.
The first job was to remove the face and hands...
Once down onto the scaffolding, the next job was lower it to the ground...
A simple rope and pulley was all that was needed...
The clock face (and hands) safely down to the ground...
Leant against the skip, the clock's face and hands look much bigger than they do in their normal position...
The hands of time in all their faded glory...
Next, the clock mechanism had to be dismantled...
All of the components had to be removed from the 'bird cage' frame...
A complex array of parts were removed, all in need of serious amounts of TLC...
Finally, the 'bird cage' was empty and ready to be lowered...
Unlike the other parts, the bird cage was lowered down through a hatch in the ceiling of the tower...
Safely down to the ground...
Clock parts loaded on a trailer and off to Saffron Walden for restoration...
A lot of work will be needed to restore our clock to full working order...