ULVERSTON’S iconic railway clock has been given a facelift.

The clock, which was installed in 1902 after being made by renowned turret clock makers JB Joyce of Whitchurch, Shropshire.

David Burns, of The Clock Works in Ulverston, first became involved with the clock in 1997 when he first restored the mechanism to working order.

He has looked after it ever since.

Time and weather eventually took its toll on the clock tower, which began suffering with a leaking roof, storm damage and stonework that was in poor working order.

After raising concerns to Network Rail, scaffolding was soon erected on the tower.

“They put a project manager on the job and we started discussions as to what actually needed to be done,” said David.

“They had a team of stone masons and roofers and the project really started moving around last July. They’ve done a really thorough job.”

The repair work meant that David could get his hands on the clock for a thorough clean.

He said: “When the scaffolding went up it gave us the opportunity to get the hands off the clock, which hadn’t been off since it had been installed in 1902.

“I used the opportunity to completely dismantle the clock mechanism, clean it and repair it and got everything back together.”

The repair work saw a new roof fitted, repair to stonework, cleaning and repointing with lime mortar and the clock dials repaired, painted and reglazed.

A lightning conductor has also been installed on the tower.

David said: “It’s a really first-class job that will preserve the tower for many years to come.

“It’s an impressive bit of work, all credit to Network Rail.”

David, who has taken care of the clock for the last 25 years, personally visits the clock once a week to wind it up manually.

He said: “Ulverston is only one of a handful of railway clocks with all original mechanism and still hand-wound weekly by myself.

“Powered entirely by gravity, a heavy weight is wound to the top of the tower every week and as it descends it keeps the clock's pendulum swinging which in turn allowed the wheel work to turn the hands on the three six foot diameter dials.”