Having spent the latter part of its life with one side covered with a slab of plate glass as a hall table, at 11 o’clock on Thursday November 26, 2020, the old clock from St George’s Church tower, that was replaced by the current one in 1919, was returned to Littleport.
A gift from Rev Walter Barnes, vicar at St George’s for 45 years, the clock was first emplaced on the tower in 1744. It got a good overhaul in 1827 by Murfitt the clock makers in Sutton – however by 1873 it was noticeably decrepit, its face faded and with only an hour hand.
An appeal was launched successfully by the parish magazine editor in 1873 and in 1878 James Dean, turret clock maker of Wisbech, took it for repair.
It was converted to going for 8 days with a new dial, works, dead beat escapement and to strike on the tenor bell.
Now some of the money collected back then was left in the account – and after the armistice in 1918 it was decided to purchase a replacement clock as a War Memorial.
Made by Smiths of Derby it was dedicated at a service in December 1920 conducted by vicar Rev Shelton. All who live or work or visit Littleport know its tuneful Cambridge Chimes on the quarter and its strike.
As the vicar said back then “Those chimes when we are dead and gone will ring out to coming generations the deathless fame of those who fought and died in the Great War.”
After it was taken out, the original clock had eventually ended up in Aldeburgh with the Luddington family, and after the passing of her husband Ted, Moya Luddington donated it to the Littleport Society. Ted and his brother David who arranged the delivery are descended from St George’s churchwarden William Luddington, their great great uncle whose name appears on one of two plaques on the clock dated December 1878…
The clock will be displayed with due respect in the fairly near future.