THE ANCIENT role of Highworth clock winder has finally been made obsolete.

For more than a century a small team of volunteers have taken turns to climb the tower of St Michael's Church and wind up the town's main timepiece.

But now technology has finally caught up with them and an electric mechanism has been installed.

The four-sided clock was installed in 1887 and is modelled on Britain's most famous time-piece the one at the top of the Houses of Parliament.

For the last 126 years the clock has kept impeccable time being wound twice a week.

Before that, for an unknown number of years, the people of the town are said to have wound another clock, which didn't have a face but just chimed the hours.

Since 1984 the winding has been carried out by parishioners Peter Newton and Keith Ratcliffe and in more recent years they have been helped by Paul Newton-Smith.

It is a demanding physical job which requires winching three heavy weights to the top of the clock tower.

Mr Ratcliffe, 65, said: "The heaviest of the three weights is 400 kilograms so it is quite a heavy job.

"The original mechanism of the clock is still there but three electric motors will now wind the weights to the top.

"It's still basically exactly the same clock.

"We were warned by a clock expert that the cables which the weights are suspended from were suffering from metal fatigue.

"It would have cost quite a lot to replace them so we decided to shorten them considerably and install these electric motors in the tower.

"The winding is very hard work as we were getting older other people weren't coming along to do it."

Mr Newton, 63, said: "I didn't mind doing it at all. It kept me fit because I had to go up and down the tower and do about 10 minutes of quite heavy winding."

The new clock mechanism is costing £4,000, paid for by the Parochial Church Council. The first motor, driving the main clock mechanism, was installed last week. The other two motors, which will drive the chimes, were put in this week.

The clock winders are philosophical about the prospect of redundancy.

Mr Ratcliffe said: "We are not sad about it though we will have to find another form of exercise.

"It's a fairly strenuous thing and Peter and I are approaching our sell-by date really."