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Iconic Fareham clock to be repaired
AN iconic clock that greets visitors to Fareham will be repaired this summer – after years of not working.
Each of the four faces of the clock at St Peter and St Paul Church, Fareham, will be carefully winched from the church tower to the ground as the first stage in a crucial restoration project. They’ll be restored to working order and put back in place this autumn.
St Peter and St Paul is Fareham’s oldest church, with parts of the building containing Anglo-Saxon material. The current church tower dates from 1742 and the clock was added in 1801. It greets visitors to Fareham as they drive along Osborn Road, but the clock sadly stopped telling the time several years ago.
The clock repairs are just part of a much larger project to restore the historic church building. Initial repairs have already taken place to replace the roof of its church hall. Now the parish has committed £350,000 towards the repair of its bell tower, including the clock.
The Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Rev Jonathan Frost, who lives in the same road as St Peter and St Paul Church, said: “I’m delighted that work on the clock tower will soon be underway and grateful for the community of St Peter and St Paul.
“I give thanks for the refurbishment plans, and the partnership between that community and the one at St John’s, Fareham, as well as the quiet enabling work of its priest-in-charge, Henry Kendal.”
The roof of the bell tower has had several leaks, which promoted the church to put up scaffolding last summer to assess its condition. This project will address all the issues that were identified.
The clock mechanism and faces will be removed on May 26 by an accredited horologist from Timsbury Clocks and taken to their workshop for careful restoration over the summer. Each of the four faces will be lowered down in turn from the tower into the churchyard.
The Martin Sewell Building Company will then start the tower repairs on June 1, including repairing the timber cupola; replacing the roof; restoring the weathervane; and renewing all the leadwork over the clock room. The brickwork is still in very good condition and will be cleaned and repointed.
West Sussex-based conservation-accredited firm Cerowski Architects have overseen the project.
The repairwork work is likely to last until October. The church will remain open for services, but the small car park will be out of bounds and bell-ringing has been suspended until the work is complete.
Public access through the church yard will remain open, although visitors are asked to be aware that there will be a lot of activity around the tower and to respect the heritage contractors as they work.
Much of the funding for this work has come from the church itself, including hundreds of pounds raised by a 2026 calendar featuring artwork by young bellringer Brandon Joyce, from Swanmore.
As well as the building restoration, the Church of England’s plans for St Peter and St Paul include the creation of a new contemporary congregation there, in partnership with nearby St John’s Church. Its traditional congregation will continue to meet for mass each Sunday.