A VERY special water clock now marks time in Padiham's high school.

The Padiham Clock has had a chequered history since it was made about 150 years ago by Jonathan Cryer of Bingley.

The hand-made two-faced large clock was handed down after Mr Cryer died and eventually a descendant of his moved to Padiham bringing the clock with him.

It was displayed in the town's museum until it closed in 1952 and the clock then went into storage in Burnley.

The town's conservation body Project Padiham was behind the bid to have the clock working and marking time once more, and John Parr, from Liverpool, a restorer of antique clocks, first fixed it up to work in the Bradford and Bingley Building Society office.

And he returned to Padiham to carry out the painstaking operation of once again putting the clock back together in hopefully its last resting place - the reception area of Gawthorpe High School.

Mr Parr said: "It is unique in that it is driven by a waterwheel, and when it was first in Mr Cryer's home, he had a tap to power the clock.

"But now there is a pump and a reservoir of water which constantly feeds water to the top of the wheel.

"One of the clocks faced Mr Cryer's kitchen and the other the hallway, and so wherever he was he knew what the time was!"

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.