The Church Clock
The first storey I heard about the clock, concerned a visit, by the then Vicar, Martin Thornton, in the small hours of the morning to Philip Sheldrick who lived in the Gate House of the Swaffham Prior Estate. His problem was that the clock had already struck twenty seven, and was still going strong, and could he do something about it. Of course he could; Philip had grown up with the apparatus and had learned most of the remedies, perhaps even from his father.
The problem was that the counting wheel had lost it's driving pin, and had stuck between the stopping notches, so that the brake could not be put on. I am not sure what happened next, as there were no lights in the tower, only Philips torch, but I guess he turned the counting wheel so that is was on stop, and went back to bed. Next day a new pin would have been fitted, and that most probably lasted until the great overhaul in 2001.
In those days the responsibility rested firmly with any village expertise, and we were lucky to have Philip. To-day we are discouraged from any temporary repair, as the Conservation Trust have their own man, so the present problem must wait for the expert
Back to the history. Early in nineteen sixty the clock dial had a face- lift. The numbers had largely left the wooden face , and telling the time was getting a matter of guesswork. Sidney Hewitt came to the rescue by making a new face, and numbers out of aluminium, so no more decay.. This new face was cut into four squares each thirty inch rectangles, so the there was no need the mess about with a hole for the hands. Sidney was very brave and descended down from the top to the clock face on a "boson's chair"bringing the new pieces with him. These were screwed the existing face, and cheered up the clock no end
Many years went by with little trouble, Philip climbing up the stairs every other day to perform his winding duties. Forty steps up. and forty steps down. As if that was not enough, those steps were so worn that they were dangerous, and after the Great Repair in 1972 they were refurbished, and made safe, although the last twenty , up to the flag pole are still the original clunch. Back to the clock. The old system had weights that dropped right down to the ground, the going train , or in usual terms the clock, worked on a single rope, whilst the striking train had a pulley which made a double rope so that it could strike the two days worth, both night and day. It is a pity that it is silent at present, but this can be easily changed if circumstances require it.
Last Monday, after a large fire clearing up the rubbish in the Cemetery, we went up the tower to correct the time.. It is difficult to regulate the clock in this cold weather, as the pendulum is long enough to give only forty swings to the minute (most clocks have sixty swings per minute), so that a little contraction in this cold spell. upsets the time-keeping. It became clear on a final inspection, that the chain driving the striking mechanism was not on its sprocket. How it came off I do not know, but as it is attached to a very heavy weight, I am going to let the expert fix it. So for the time being there will be no striking clock. although the hands will show the correct time.
The present winding system is electrical, and the weights are wound up every twenty minutes or so, making the trip to the clock room less frequent than Philip used to make all those years ago. With electricity now available, the weights drop twelve inches and trigger a switch which starts a motor and winds them back up again. All very cleaver when it works, but I am assured that it will not be long before all is well again.
As a final comment, I hope pressure will be put on the East Cambs Council to trim the cedar tree which now prevents us from seeing this clock. I did have a conversation with the manager when they were trimming the yew trees, but the workers had left the site before they could be contacted. The offending one is a poor specimen, but it has grown too tall for our good.