07 Oct Time no longer stands still in Winchcombe

Town clock repaired and working again

The trustees of the Winchcombe Town Trust are please to announce that the clock which is attached to the Old Town Hall has been repaired and is now working again and is lit at night. It had been out of action since early 2022 and unlit since 2018. Trustees sourced grants to cover most of the repair and covered the shortfall from Trust funds.

Both the building and the clock are distinctive features of Winchcombe’s architectural landscape. The large clock was donated as a gift to the Town in 1897 by Reginald H Prance of Hampstead who covered all of the costs.

Minutes from Town Trust meetings reveal that the clock, whilst much loved, has always been hard, and expensive, to maintain. Initially the building’s caretaker was paid two pounds and ten shillings per annum to wind the clock. In 1900 the Town Hall’s gas account was increased by £4.00 to pay for lighting the two faces.

The clock was converted to an electric mechanism in 1935 for £15, but still often failed to keep time and needed repairing.

The last repair took place in 2001 at a cost of £5000 when the mechanism was brought inside the Museum with a cable running out to the drum to turn the hands. Access was always a costly problem, as the clock overhangs the road.