The historic Little John bell at the top of Nottingham Council House has fallen silent for two months while the near 100-year-old clock is serviced to fix ‘chiming issues’.
A senior Nottingham councillor says he also hopes the rest of the Council House, in Old Market Square, could be given a spruce-up in time for its centenary anniversary by the end of the decade.
At 12pm on Tuesday (September 2) the bells in the building’s 200ft domed roof chimed for the last time ahead of a 10-week restoration project.
Work on the clock and its gearbox will be the most time-consuming element of the project, but the Little John bell and the smaller bells will be serviced too while out of action.
While the bells were last silenced during the Second World War, it is estimated Little John could have chimed up to 3.8 million times since 1928.
Wayne Francis is the director of Clockwise Restorations in Lincolnshire, which has been looking after the clock for eight years.
“We’ve identified parts that are becoming worn and unreliable, and we’ve had chiming issues when they go out of synchronisation,” he said.
@westbridgfordwirenews The bell at Nottingham’s Council House will now be silent until works are completed later this year #nottingham ♬ original sound – West Bridgford Wire News
“When we realised in 2028 the clock becomes 100 years old, and the last time it was fully stripped down and serviced was in 1978 for its 50th, we thought this was an opportunity to put things right.
“When you deal with any ancient turret clock there are parts you have to make.
“This clock was made in a period where they were starting to experiment with electric motors in clocks, and Nottingham clockmakers G & F Cope was one of the leading companies that went ahead and did that.
“The chimes and strikes are driven by an electric motor and that was unique to them, and this system wasn’t copied by other turret clock companies, so we don’t have access to parts.
“We need to have the parts of the clock looked at, measured, identified, and see where parts are worn and if we need to make new ones.
“What the council is spending in funding is actually quite small for what we are doing here.”
The £60,000 project will include a full inspection and servicing of the clock’s mechanism, hour strike, and bells, alongside future-proofing essential components and restoring the clockface’s centre cross with traditional 23.75ct gold leaf.
It will be funded by the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).
Work is expected to be completed by November 7, 2025.
Cllr Jay Hayes, executive member for housing and planning, said: “It is an iconic bell, the unique bell of Nottingham, and importantly it is the sound of Nottingham.
“When people come into the city they hear the bell, look up at the Council House, and that is why it is so important we keep this bell ringing.”
Back in January the Nottingham Civic Society branded the condition of the overall building “depressing”, due to a raft of outstanding repairs and dirty façade and lion statues.
Asked about whether the authority is looking to secure money to pay for the repairs on the rest of the building, Cllr Hayes added: “We are hoping to.
“We’ve been under immense budget pressures over recent years, so we’ve not been able to get the funding to clean the building as we would want it.
“But this is the first step of many things we would like to do to this building. We want to see this building in good condition and celebrate its 100-year anniversary.
“We are always looking at other opportunities out there, we’ve got very good teams in the council bidding for money all the time, so this is just one of the pots of funding we’ve been able to tap into. We are always looking what we can do internally as well to free up money, but we will continue to work to secure funding for the entire building.”
Little John was cast in 1927 by world-renowned bell founders John Taylor & Co of Loughborough. It is the fifth heaviest bell in the UK, and its powerful E-flat tone is the deepest in the country.
