Time ticks on: clock towers

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Time does funny things in lockdown. On the one hand it seems to go on and on forever. On the other, because every day is much the same, it seems to flash by. Another difficulty is finding places to walk when we are confined to our local area: I never thought I would say I was sick of Glasgow’s West End, but I truly am! So little things make a difference, and I was delighted to read this tweet from Glasgow City Archives.

A follow up thread explained that when the factory was demolished in the mid-1990s to make way for new flats, the developers rescued the clock and incorporated the timepiece into the new building. Sutcliffe Road is within easy walking distance – a new destination! So off I went in the snow and ice and, sure enough, there is the clock.

Sutcliffe Road
Sutcliffe Road

This got me searching through my phone for unused images of other clock towers. I assembled quite a few. At the eastern end of Glasgow City Centre, we have the Tolbooth and St Andrews in the Square.

Tolbooth
St Andrews in the Square

I’ve only recently found out why so many clock faces are blue with gold numbers and hands. Apparently it dates from a decree by Henry VIII that, following God’s command to Moses (Exodus 39) to make Aaron the priest “garments of blue with gold bells”, church clocks should be “blew with the signs upon them gilt”. Here’s another blue one, this time outside what is now the Tron Theatre on Trongate. You can just see the Tolbooth peeking out again in the first image.

Trongate
Trongate

Elsewhere in Glasgow is the new(ish) Clydeside Distillery, built in an old pumphouse with a modern glass extension. With the latter excluded, as in the second image, I think it looks more like an old monastery.

Clydeside Distillery
Clydeside Distillery

Moving to Govan, these shots of the old Southern General are taken from the top level of the multi-storey carpark for the new hospital, which you can see in the final image. Not so attractive (and no clock), but probably much more functional for the 21st century.

Southern General
Southern General
QUEH

Moving out of Glasgow, here is the beautiful clock tower on Paisley Town Hall, complete with bells.

Paisley Town Hall
Paisley Town Hall

From our summer walks in East Dunbartonshire, here are Bishopbriggs Library and the derelict High Kirk of Campsie in Lennoxtown.

Bishopbriggs Library
High Kirk of Campsie

And last, but not of course least, to Edinburgh, where we finish at the Tolbooth Tavern. Sadly, like all pubs in Scotland, it’s currently closed so we can’t pop in for a pint. But cheers anyway! Tell me about your favourite clocks and time facts in the comments – or even do your own post!

Scotland, UK , , , ,

65 Comments »

  1. Pingback: A church walk – The Glasgow Gallivanter

  2. Good point, Anabel, how little things make a difference when I am taking the same route over and over again. Fascinating about blue with gold numbers and hands. Again, you make “history” interesting for me. I am sure we must have some older clocks in Victoria. I will keep a look out, especially next time I wander downtown.

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  3. Pingback: Glasgow Gallivanting: February 2021 – The Glasgow Gallivanter
  4. Pingback: Saturday Saunter: Clock towers, maps and virtual experiences – Walking Talking

  5. We never really had a full on lock down here in Queensland, but we did have many weeks of restrictions and I have to agree with you. Even though we were hardly going anywhere the days seemed to fly by so fast. I remember seeing a wonderful clock in Rouen in France which told the time, days, seasons and what farmers should be planting. It was fascinating.

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  6. Love your selection of clock towers! I am quite partial to the clock tower on St. Pancras. And not exactly a clock tower, but there’s this total tourist trap attraction in Ohio’s Amish country that bills itself as the world’s largest cuckoo clock. I haven’t been since I was a kid, but I used to love it, probably mostly because there was a shop underneath that sold a massive selection of the American equivalent of pick n mix sweets, and my grandparents would always buy me a bag. I should probably go back as an adult at some point and blog about it!

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  7. At least living in a city, you have plenty of clocks to discover. The one you’ve captured in Winchester though, is just do handy for the people walking down that street. 🙂

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  11. Hi Anabel – fascinating historical fact about ‘old Henry – the 8th’ … loved the blue and gold info – I’d never known that … but had sort of wondered. Ever since I saw the Corpus clock in Cambridge I’ve always wanted to see it … it was designed and given by Dr John C Taylor – inaugurated by Stephen Hawking … it’s at street level. Perhaps I should write a post about it … one day I’ll get to Cambridge. Loved seeing all your clocks in that Scottish granite … all the best Hilary

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  12. Clock towers aren’t a “thing” here in New Zealand. In some areas of towns and cities that haven’t been touched hugely by developers still have them e.g. Gisborne, Dunedin, Invercargill to name a few and obviously the one Su mentioned at Auckland University. It was interesting to see your collection of photos.

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  13. Doh!, I’ve passed through Temple more than one thousand times, probably far more over several decades, but never knew about that building or clock. Usually Fulton Street, one street away, I travel down. Ironically, I know all the rest of the clocks , much further away than the one on my own doorstep. I know what you mean about the same local walks… not the same motivation when you are just repeating routes for months on end. Luckily that recent snow was a real gift from Heaven as for me it freed up new areas.previously out of bounds..

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    • I had never been down that road before either, and when I looked at the map I was amazed how much green space there is in the area bounded by Fulton Street, Bearsden Rd and GWR. Even when we lived, many years ago, in Strathcona Gardens, I had never explored it.

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  14. Lovely collection Anabel. I’m never happy with my clock tower photos; and I’ve taken a few. My favourite tower is the one at Auckland University; it’s quite beautiful and has great scope for exploring the interior. I really must take ONE good photo of it!!

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  16. Blue and gold eh…things you can do when you declare yourself head of the church. I’m now off to rake through thousands of photos for clocks…at least I can miss out about 80% which were taken on hills and mountains 🙂

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  17. Hi, Anabel – I completely agree with you about COVID-time — sometimes fast, sometimes slow, usually repetitive (think Ground Hog Day, the movie). 😀
    I loved your little tidbits about the clocks – especially blue and gold (or blew and gilt). I never would have guessed!

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    • Oh yes, definitely Groundhog Day! Just learning today what our potential route out of this is, and it’s very slow and cautious. As for the blue clocks, I had no idea till the last time we put them back an hour and Lost Glasgow, a site I follow on Facebook, posted about it. Fascinating!

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  18. The old Cyro works building reminds me of the old Preston docks office building, almost exactly the same but for the centre section and clock. I like the Paisley town hall clock tower and the Tollbooth Tavern clock, and the Winchester one reminds me of the Irish Times one in Dublin. This is a great subject for a post and I know I have several clocks in my archives so I’m off to do some digging 🙂

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  19. I am amused how a tweet led you to such a wonderful and interesting post! I never knew that about the blue and gold. I do, however, know how fed-up one can get with the local area.

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  20. Excellent Anabel. I’m familiar with most of these, including the one at the old Southern. I like that it has been incorporated into the vast QEUH complex. I will try and include a clock tower on my post on Saturday.

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  21. I’m glad they saved the clock but I do like the original building. What a shame it was torn down, actually, in Toronto-the distillery district there is an old factory that was designated historical, but the Provincial Government can do the8r own thing so they sold it to developers who started tearing it down. Thankfully their was a huge outcry and a judge stopped the destruction. The historical society and many others think it’s a great building for stores, restaurants etc…I agree. I had no idea about the clocks having to be blue and gold which is a nice combo. I love all the clocks you show here. I have a thing for Glockenspiels and love the one in Prague with the astronomical clock and the figures of death, greed etc.. love the one in Munich and in Graz.

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  23. Quite a collection you have there and all of them interesting. I think I like the Paisley one best, especially with the bells hanging beside it. I didn’t know the reason for the blue and gold clock faces and I’m filing this away in my ‘trivia’ folder, you never know when it might come in handy!

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  24. That Henry VIII! He seems to have put his stamp on just about everything 😏

    I’m a huge fan of clock towers and you have managed to capture quite a variety of them. How does one pick a favourite?! … but the last one gets the final nod from me. Ratcheting the clock onto the side of the building makes it quite unique. I can’t say I’ve ever seen any like it. Throw in the tiny turret and it’s a winner 🙂

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  25. I have lots of photos of clock towers! You should have done a challenge. Hope the lockdown doesn’t last much longer. Thanks for the historical fact also

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  26. Never knew why the blue and gold – thanks!

    I love clock on towers, and your pictures are fantastic.

    My current read has a wonderful thought:

    Which direction do the hands turn on a clock? – It depends whether you’re inside or outside the clock.

    It’s a gripping book – and time does funny things when I’m reading it… weirdly, I thought I’d read for hours and it was only two – yet so much had happened! Review on 6th March, I think.

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