The Old and New Clock Towers
Apart from its ornate stone work, sandstone faced with millstone gritt from nearby Blackstone Edge, the most striking feature was the splendid clock tower. The original tower stood 240ft high and topped with a wooden figure of St George and the Dragon. The statue was carved by Messrs. Earp of London out of solid wood. The statue stood 12ft tall and was had a covering of lead. It was held in position by a 16ft bolt, three and a half inches in diameter, which passed through the figure exiting at the breast where it was fastened by a nut. The base of the bolt was secured inside the tower, to four massive straps, which in turn were secured 16ft below to a heavy cast iron collar and tightened off with nuts. As a 'just in case' measure the cast iron collar was additionally attached to the base of the statue by four extra bolts. This was adjudged to enable the statue to withstand anything the northern weather could throw at it. In November of 1870 there was a formal ceremony to place the statue on its lofty perch. When everything was in place, at 1 o'clock, there was a signal, in the form of a gun shot, from the top of the tower and the Mayor, Mr G.L. Ashworth, pulled string which was connected to a brake, The brake released and St George gently lowered on to its base. The men assigned to fixing it into position, accompanied by their manager Mr Collinson, climbed to the highest possible point on the scaffolding and cheered.
The tower was destroyed in 1883 in, what was reported as, "A spectacular Fire". Local 'legend' has it, that as the tower was burning the assembled crowd were anticipating the fall of St George. Just before the statue plummeted to the ground and smashed into hundreds of pieces, it turned slowly to faced the Parish Church as if saying goodbye. Then fell into the Town Hall Square 240ft below. The reason behind this un-nerving movement was probably due to the bolt that held the statue in place. As the tower burned it is reasonable to suggest that the bolt and iron collar heated up and during this heating up either warped or the screw thread on the bolt started turning due to the heat and it was coincidence that the statue faced the Parish Church. But a nice story non the less.
This picture, taken from the bottom of Yorkshire Street, shows the new tower under construction. (Clicking on the picture will show the original architects plans for the new tower)
The original tower had an archway running through the base and two floors of office space. The rest of the tower was taken up with the clock workings and twelve bells (which played a carillon of 14 tunes). Fortunately the fire didn't spread to the rest of the Town Hall. The archway and the first 2 floors survived. These are now incorporated into the building between the new tower and the rest of the Town Hall. The archway is now the Mayor's entrance and has a driveway through it for the Mayor's car.
The completed Town Hall (left: 1893, right: 1999). The arch of the old tower can be seen quite clearly, between the new tower and the Town Hall itself.
The new tower is 49ft shorter than the original. It only has five bells, instead of twelve, no carillon of tunes and no figure of St George topping the tower.
Last updated 15/03/00