Coleshill church clock’s long awaited strip-down and overhaul to fix timekeeping problems was due to start as the Coleshill Post was going to press.

The 160-year-old timepiece, made in Coleshill, has been serviced annually for many years, but an inspection to find out what is causing its erratic behaviour revealed work costing about £10,000 to enable it to keep the town on time for decades to come.

Clock engineers were to abseil down the tower from the battlements to remove the hands, so that the internal dial motion works inside the tower can be dismantled, freed and cleaned.

The clock mechanism will be dismantled, washed and cleaned to remove the build up of old oil and dirt. Several of the bearings are very dirty and require attention. 

The auto winding system installed in 2003 is coming to the end of its life expectancy and is now unreliable. To meet current expert advice it will be replaced by a mechanism which will sit under the clock instead of to the side, driving different wheels to reduce wear.

Before the auto-winding mechanism was installed the clock had to be wound by hand twice a week to keep it running.

The clock was made by William Leeson, who is buried within sight and sound of the church. Family member Chris Leeson, who owns and runs the Ying Yang Centre acupuncture clinic, is the fifth generation with a business in Coleshill. She said: “I have so missed hearing and seeing the clock, so am very happy”.