The clock of a historic Powys has been removed for repairs after years of campaigning to fix the mechanism.

After a long period of silence from the clocktower on St Mary’s Church in Llanfair Caereinion’s, the giant clockface and mechanism was removed on April 15 for repairs to be carried out on the eighteenth-century timekeeper.

The clock was removed by clockmakers from Smith of Derby, specialist turret clock engineers who were hired to remove and repair the clock.

The complex job of removing the clock has taken multiple days to complete. The steep turret means that scaffolding cannot go up, meaning the job has to be carried out using ropes and pullies to get up the clockface and lower it to the ground.

The removal of the clockface is the culmination of a long campaign by Friends of Llanfyllin clock, a group that was formed in November 2022 with the aim of restoring the clock to full working order.

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Susan Whitehouse, chair of Friends of Llanfair Clock, said: “It’s a big relief to see the task of taking the clock down from the tower so repairs can begin successfully carried out.

“There was some scepticism over whether funds to repair the clock would ever be raised as it had been still for many years. The clock has been there for a very long time and served as the town’s timekeeper for decades, so it’s wonderful that such a historic landmark will be working again. It’s been sorely missed.

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“The fact that it’s finally being repaired is definitely a big topic of conversation in town right now. Everyone seems to be aware of it.”

The clock stopped as a result of the oak framework rotting, leaving the mechanism exposed to the elements and no longer in alignment with the clock face.

Now that the clockface has been removed, the rest of the repair work will involve removing part of the mechanism for them to be stripped, cleaned and reworked at Smith’s specialist workshops, as well as repairing the oak casing on which is stands.

Ms Whitehouse added: “We are still waiting to here how long the repairs will take as it’s a very specialised job, especially as removing it and putting it back in place is very weather dependant, but we will be organising a proper celebration when it bongs again.”