Following a fundraising campaign, generous donations from villagers, and a £250 grant from the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, the clock at St Mary Magdalene Church has been repaired and refurbished by specialist clockmakers Clockwise Restorations.
The clock was restarted at 10.30am on Sunday 8 June 2025, when villagers gathered together to hear the clock chime 11am, for the first time in 10 years!
About the clock
Cottingham’s church clock was manufactured in 1881 by Croydon clock makers Gillett and Bland.
When the clock chimed previously, it did so on the hour throughout the night. However, in the interests of being a good neighbour, the clock has been fitted with a night silencer, and the clock chimes will initially be silenced through the ‘quiet’ hours of the night, these being from 11pm to 7am. We are keeping this under review.
The clock chime works by a hammer hitting the outer rim of the tenor bell and there’s a lever to lift the hammer off the bell, automatically for the night silencing and manually when the church bells are rung.
As well as the night silencing kit, the clock has been fitted with two new motors, one to wind the clock and the other to operate the chime; a GPS receiver to automatically switch the time from GMT to BST; and a battery back up, so the night silencer will still work in the case of power failure.
Check out our photos and videos below (from Dave Palmer).
Videos
Fundraising and donations summary
Thank you so much to the village bell ringing team, who have led the fundraising campaign, and everyone who has supported us. It really shows what can be achieved when a community works together! Here’s a summary of where the money has come from for the refurbishment project.
| Downsizing sale at Village Store, (Mary Knott) 8 March 2024 | £553 |
| 24 Carat Jazz concert, 30 June 2024 | £720 |
| Phoenix Saxophone Orchestra concert, 31 August 2024 | £600 |
| Wine Safari (previous fundraising) | £3,600 |
| Donation from Lawson’s Coaches | £400 |
| Donation from village copyholders | £1,000 |
| Christmas craft sale, Village Store, (Jo Leaning and Chris West-Robinson), Nov/Dec 2024 | £210 |
| Ghost Stories for Christmas, December 2024 | £900 |
| Alright JACK concert, 27 April 2025 | £450 |
| Individual donations including from Oh Brother!, Owen & Ann Davison, Pam Harrison and Jane Smith | £1,391 |
| Gift aid | £238 |
| Worshipful Company of Clockmakers | £250 |
| Total raised | £10,312 |