Time called on rusting clock

Manchester Town Hall was built 126 years ago

Work was due to start on a Manchester landmark on Thursday after time finally caught up with the town hall clock.

Wrought-iron plates holding the clock hands in place have rusted and will be replaced with stainless steel ones as a safety precaution.

It is the first time all the hands will have been removed from the Victorian building since it was built 126 years ago.

Steeplejacks from the Cumbria Clock Company near Penrith will begin removing the hands from three of the four clock faces.

The fingers from the Lloyd Street clock face were removed and replaced just before Christmas as part of the safety work.

'Superb machinery'

Some repair work will be done on site and the rest at the clock company's workshop.

Keith Scobie-Youngs, who runs the company, said: "The clock is a superb piece of machinery.

"Big Ben is the clock everyone thinks of but Manchester's town hall clock is one of the best in the country."

The clock faces have a diameter of 16 feet, while the nine-feet-long minute hands weigh just under 90kgs and the six-feet-long hour hands weigh about 45kgs.

The repair work is expected to take several weeks.