After being removed in October 2023 for essential restoration, the 1929 J.W. Benson London turret clock at St John’s Church has been expertly serviced and is now back in its rightful place. The clock was carefully dismantled, cleaned, oiled, and restored to ensure it continues to keep accurate time for many more years to come.
The clock chamber has also been completely refreshed as part of the restoration and re-ordering work to
St John’s church tower. New wooden joists and flooring have been carefully installed to replace the old clock chamber flooring which had become severely degraded from years of water ingress through the towers stonework and pest infestation in the form of Deathwatch beetle.
A sturdy new wooden platform has also been constructed to securely support the turret clock, as shown in the picture above.
The walls of the new ringing chamber, and clock chamber have been limewashed to stabilise their surface and reduce dust levels, this also helps to preserve the tower structure and freshen up the space.
Alongside this new electric lighting has been installed to the tower steps, ringing chamber, clock room and belfry. New access steps leading from the ringing chamber to the clock room is a welcome new addition as the old ones were rather unsafe. A robust new wooden mounting platform has also been installed for the turret clock to sit on.
New electric lighting has been installed throughout the tower steps, ringing chamber, clock room, and belfry. A new set of access steps now connects the ringing chamber to the clock room, providing a much-needed and safer upgrade to the rather precarious steps that were there previously.
As part of the restoration, the clock face was also repainted and regilded, bringing it back to its original splendour and enhancing the church’s historic tower.
The process of reinstalling the clock began in December 2024 with the newly restored clock face being returned to the tower prior to the scaffolding coming down and following the successful rehanging of the bells. After months of careful work, the restoration, servicing and reinstallation of the clock was successfully completed on 15th March 2025.
With the clock now fully restored, St John’s Church once again stands as a proud symbol of the town’s history and heritage, with its clock marking time for generations to come.
Our Thanks
We would like to take the opportunity to extend our warmest thanks to those who have generously donated funds to enable us to complete this much needed restoration work to the clock.
These include Heritage Lottery Fund, Garfield Western Foundation, Hatherleigh Moor Management Committee, Hatherleigh Bellringers, ‘All Churches’, Devon Historic Churches, Archdeacon’s Fund, legacy giving, church fundraising, and donations from individuals.
We would also like to extend our warm thanks Symon Boyd of Timsbury Clocks for taking such good care of our clock and for his skilled work during its removal, restoration, servicing and re-installation.