Motherwell

Staying in Scotland, we move to the town of Motherwell. First stop is Dalziel church in Merry Street. The clock has a plastic protective cover, which I suppose is a good idea in general, but plays havoc with taking a photograph on a sunny day.

On the opposite side of the road to the church is the Brandon Parade shopping centre. Brandon Parade South has this simple clock.

It is a design that suits the vaguely modernistic architecture.

The main feature, clockwise, of Motherwell has to be the town hall building f 1886/87, which now has several functions including a nightclub and a business centre.

 

Just down the road is this clock on the offices of F G Flynn accountants.

And finally this very simple clock on the outside of the railway station. Not much you can say about it really.

Glasgow - Part 7

The final instalment from Glasgow, with all the clocks that haven't been included in Parts 1 - 6.

First stop is Govan. The area around the underground station is not very inspiring, reflecting the decline of local heavy industry. There are some signs of redevelopment in the form of shiny new flats, and reminders of past glories such as the Pearce Institute below.

This was built for working men and women in 1902-06, and has this nice clock.

Just around the corner is a piece of waste ground currently used as a car park. Contrast this the the view across to the north bank of the Clyde, with the Tall Ship moored in front of the new Riverside Museum designed by Zaha Hadid.

On the underground off to Shields Road station. And what time is it? Yes, of course it is Fish Time!

This shop is on Scotland Street, right next door to the underground station.

Just along the road is the Scotland Street School Museum. This is a gem of a building by Charles Rennie Mackintosh of 1904-06. Originally a local school, motorway building wiped away most of the houses, and the building subsequently became a museum of school life. Hence there are many clocks around the building.

The interior of the building has some lovely glazed tiles. Overall well worth a visit.

A little bit further along Scotland Street is a derelict industrial yard, with this decrepit clock poking its head out of the ruins.

Two final clocks to the south-east of the city centre. The first is on this office complex at Templeton on the Green. Rather plain, and very dirty, but it does its job in telling the right time.

And finally this little gem. This is an octagonal cast-iron shelter at Bridgeton Cross, erected in 1874.

Which, after 49 clocks, brings us to the end of our trip to Glasgow.

Glasgow - Part 6

This posting covers Rutherglen in the south-east of the city.

The first clock is on the totally over-the-top tower on Rutherglen Town Hall. The massive bulk of the tower is out of scale with the rest of the building, which is what makes it so marvellous.

The town hall was built in 1861-62, and the tower is 110 ft (33.5 m) tall.

A short way west along Main Street is the Old Parish Church, founded in the 12th century. The tower is from the 15th or 16th century, with the spire being a later addition from 1710.

The hands are in the classic stopped clock position of 12 o'clock.

The clock on the tower of Rutherglen West Parish Church, is in working order. This is a much later church of 1848-50. Its location on Glasgow Road reveals the fact that Rutherglen was a separate town, with a charter dating back to 1179, and only officially became part of Glasgow in 1975.

The clock may be a bit shabby, but it seems to be much loved by the pigeons.

The next clock is inside the local shopping centre, and is one of two identical ones. You wouldn't go into this centre for top-of-the-range shopping, but the cafe does a wonderful, no-nonsense old fashioned (1970's style) chocolate fudge cake, and you can't say fairer than that.

The only other clock that I could find in Rutherglen was this standard example in the booking office of the railway station.

Glasgow - Part 5

Part 5 of the Glasgow jaunt, and on to the Great Western Road.

This clock is on what is now a branch of Costa, on the junction with Otago Street. It is only now looking at the photograph that I have realised that this is not really a clock at all. It was certainly stopped, but you can see from the picture how the hands are fixed into position and do not have a central mechanism to make them go round. It looks nice, but it is intriguing why this feature has been retained rather than say a Costa logo - I can only assume that it is something to do with planning regulations.

In the background of the picture below you can see another clock which we will come to in a moment.

 

But first a trip down Otago Street itself and to this "Antique Lighting and Furniture" shop, with a battered looking and non-functioning clock.

 

 

The close-up picture shows just what a bad condition this clock is really in. It is certainly in no condition to go "ping"!

 

 

Back on to the Great Western Road (and for information this and the previous two clocks can be found a short distance from Kelvinbridge station on the excellent Glasgow underground system).

 

 

This is Coopers on the junction with Bank Street, with a clock that is actually working. And a slightly unusual pattern on the clockface. The book "The Buildings of Scotland - Glasgow" (Penguin Books 1990) describes the tower with "clock faces set in panels with linking swags at cornice level, a cast-iron balcony, classically detailed lucarnes set into a truncated conical roof with fish-scale tiles and a crowning cupola strongly reminiscent of a stone Coca Cola bottle".

 

 

 

The sun is shining on Woodlands Road, and on this building on the corner of West End Park Street.

 

 

Quite a nice clock, and a return to the blue and gold theme which we saw in the city centre.

 

 

 

Off now to Clydebank. This building is the recently restored town hall, originally built in 1902. 

 

 

The clock is by Gilett and Johnston of Croydon, and therefore a long way from its place of origin. 

 

 

In my short stop in Clydebank I only expected to find the town hall clock, but there are two further ones on the same road (Dumbarton Road) on more modern buildings.

 

The first  is on Singers........

 

 

 

.......and the second is on the premises of PRG Solicitors. I particularly like the overall design of the Singers clock as it fits well with its surrounding ornamentation. The PRG clock is much more clumsy in the way that it is fixed to the building.

 

 

 

Moving eastwards along the Clyde, and to Stobcross Quay just to the west of the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre. This tower is right by the heliport (good for navigating by I suppose), and I assume was some form of accumulator tower. As you can see, the clock is not currently working, with different times shown on each of the faces.

 



 

 

 Just two more clocks in this episode. First is that of Harvey's Funeral Directors on St Vincent Street, with a complete set of arabic numerals.

 

 

 Second is this building on the junction of Dumbarton Road and Cooper's Well Street.

 

 

The clock is close to Kelvinhall underground station, which is the stop for the Kelvingrove Art Gallery.....

 

 

.....which is nothing to do with clocks, but which has a fantastic art collection (including the truly remarkable Christ of St John on the Cross by Dali, and this painting by Alison Watt, one of my favourite artists). The cafe also serves one the finest lemon tarts to be found anywhere. 

 

 

Glasgow - Part 4

Part 4 starts with this cracker of a clock. Or in fact two clocks as there is a pair of identical clocks, one on each end of this building on Bothwell Street.

Unfortunately neither clock is currently working.

Moving on to the City Free Church of 1857-59 on St Vincent Street, and another big clock tower in a city that is full of them.

Below is the Central Hotel of 1882-84, located, not surprisingly, next to Glasgow Central station. The predominantly plain tower is in contrast to the rest of the building, but is in keeping with the other weird and wonderful clock towers in the city.

Another tower can be found on St George's Tron of 1807-09 in Buchanan Street.

The building below can be found at the junction of Gordon Street with Union Street. I'm rather taken with understated but elegant clock. Methinks that it was installed before the building became occupied by The Carphone Warehouse.

Charing Cross Mansions of 1889-91 are sited where Sauchiehall Street meets the urban disaster that is the M8 motorway. The area is totally car-dominated, taking away the ability to really appreciate this clock and its surrounding sculpture by William Birnie Rhind.

Having said that, the clock is currently not working, perhaps affected by all the traffic fumes.

On the opposite side of the motorway is the Cameron Memorial Fountain of 1896, erected in memory of Charles Cameron MP. In my experience you get elaborate drinking fountains and elaborate clock towers from the Victorian age, but not normally the two combined as in this example. But like its companion across the motorway, this is a non-functioning clock.

Moving slightly northwards on this side of the M8, we come to St George's Mansions. A decade later (1900-01) than Charing Cross Mansions, the block also has a clock with an elaborate surround.