Work has started on restoring Brighton's landmark Clock Tower to its original Victorian splendour.

Scaffolding has been erected around the base of the famous structure, which stands at the junction of West Street and North Street.

The monument will be repaired and scrubbed so the stonework sparkles once more.

But the main feature of the £35,000 renovation project will be the restoration of the golden ball at the top of the tower.

When the structure was built in 1888, as a belated recognition of Queen Victoria's golden jubilee, the ball used to travel to the top of a mast on each hour.

Brighton inventor Magnus Volk arranged that the ball would be activated by a time signal from the observatory at Greenwich.

But in those days, hundreds of people lived near the Clock Tower and when the wind whistled through a slot in the mast it kept them awake at night.

After only a few years, the rising ball was stopped and it has not been used for more than a century.

Most of the money to restore the tower has been provided by Brighton and Hove City Council.

Some has also been contributed by Boots as part of a planning agreement for the renovation of its North Street store.