The Village Clock, positioned on the tower of St Andrews Church, was manufactured in 1867 by Tucker of London, a well known and respected turret clockmaker. It was presented to the village by the Tindale family and the following plaque is affixed to the mechanism:
“This clock was presented to the Parish of Ewerby by Mrs Tindale, Widow of Thos. Tindale Esq AD1867 and the Parishoners placed this inscription in perpetual remembrance of their thanks for THE HANSOME GIFT”
The Tindales lived and farmed at Park Farm before emigrating to Australia.
The clock had not operated for over 20 years when it was decided, as part of the village Millennium celebrations, to refurbish it and bring it back to its former glory.
Mr Ablott, Ecclesiastical Clockmaker of Scunthorpe, was commissioned to carry out the work which involved taking the whole mechanism back to his workshop, removing the facing dial from the tower and refixing after refurbishment.
The commissioning of the work coincided with a visit to the village of one of the descendants of the Tindales. Miss Tindale returned to Australia, approached relatives for contributions towards the work, which resulted in the family paying for the work to their clock in its entirety.
One continuing difficulty with the clock has been the fact that it only had a four and a half day wind, necessitating two volunteers per week to keep it running.
The Parish Council arranged for Mr Philip Irvine, Ecclesiastical and Horological Contractor of Southport to convert the winding mechanism to a seven day wind, installing additional pulleys and weights to achieve the conversion.
This work has now been completed and the clock recommissioned.
Michael J Scott
Chairman
31st March 2009
