Saturday 23 November 2013

York (Part 7)

This is the final part of our tour of York, and wraps up all those clocks outside the city centre (and I would be pleased to hear of any I have missed for a revisit sometime in the future).

We start off in the west, at the Lloyds Pharmacy branch on York Road at its junction with Severus Avenue.



This poor clock has seen better days (not a good advert for a pharmacy), with its battered casing and bent hands.



And the completely different time shown on its other face is a giveaway sign that it is not in working condition.


The trip along this road was to visit Acomb School on Front Street. This now appears to be the Gateway Centre, with a new school located nearby in West Bank, but was originally opened as a primary school in 1894.



The clock is by Potts of Leeds, and also dates to 1894.




This is the parish church of Clifton (St Philip and St James) on Clifton, built in 1866/67.




The clock face is magnificent it its striking colours and well-maintained condition.


Another school and another Potts clock. This time we are at New Earswick school to the north of the city.


The clock was commissioned by Messrs Rowntree & Co (see below) and set going on 15 August 1912. (As so often I am indebted to the book  "Potts of Leeds - Five Generations of Clockmakers" by Michael S. Potts).




York is famous for chocolate, so it is time to visit the Rowntree factory (now part of Nestle) on Haxby Road. Two of the entrances have these isolated clocks mounted on columns. This is the northernmost of the two:




The southern clock is slightly different in design, with its inner and outer gold rings.



Both clocks have these panels on top of their housings, so I assume that they are solar powered.


Lets move to the south of the city now, and in particular to Bishopthorpe. This is another ex-school, and is now the Bish Street Kids nursery.



More importantly it has clocks on two of its walls.



The reason for the trip to Bishopthorpe is its palace, and especially its gatehouse.


The palace is the residence of the Archbishop of York, and the gatehouse was added in 1769.


The clock is by Potts of Leeds, and was manufactured in 1913. It replaced a clock dating to 1744 by Henry Hindley. It has recently been restored by Smiths of Derby, and set going again in March 2013. It certainly looks rather splendid.



More chocolate factories (surely there can never be enough of them), this time the Terry's factory along Bishopthorpe Road.


The factory was built in 1926, and produced such products as the chocolate apple (yes, I am familiar with the chocolate orange, but apparently a chocolate apple was produced between 1926 and 1954).




The factory closed in September 2005, and the site is being redeveloped, including the inevitable new housing. But it is nice to see the clock recognised in the promotional banner. Bet they took a long time to come up with that name!



Nearby is York racecourse. This has two clocks, the first by the local manufacturer Newey.



The second, and rather faded, clock is on the main grandstand.


 
And with that we say farewell to York and gallop off to pastures new.

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