York (Part 4)

For Part 4 we are concentrating on the city centre.

Today's first clock is that on the premises of Yeoman's, a clothing / camping shop on Blake Street.

I understand that this shop was once House & Sons, an electrical retailer, hence the name on the clock face. Note also the unusual design of the "8".

Next, we are around the corner in Lendal Street, where the Post Office has a fairly standard design in its window.

The Browns store is in Davygate has a prominent clock on the corner of the building.

This looks to me like a modern replacement, which slightly jars with the surrounding architecture (dating from 1900 you will note).

But if it is prominent clocks you are after, look no further than St Martins le Grand on Coney Street. This is a massive clock mounted on a highly ornate bracket which projects it across the street. You would be hard-pressed to miss this one.

A sense of scale is better understood from the photo below. The church was rebuilt in the 15th century, but was almost totally destroyed by fire on 29 April 1942 during an air raid. It was then rebuilt again in 1961 - 68. The fire also heavily damaged the clock, and so a new movement was built by Geoffrey Newey in 1966. This movement is housed in the tower which is set back from the main street, and the hands are driven by 20 metre rods.

The figure on top of the clock is called the Little Admiral and dates from 1778. The figure rotates so that it is always facing the sun.

Just around the corner in New Street is the branch of All Bar One, with its standard clock design.

St the other end of New Street we turn into Spurriergate, where we find this rather nice clock at TK Maxx (although previously it was a branch of Boots).

Parliament Street now, and as usual you can rely on Marks and Spencer to have a nice looking clock, painted in the rather tasteful green and gold livery.

What is not as well expected is that M&S has another clock at the rear of the store that faces Newgate Market. This is a much more contemporary design, installed directly onto the brickwork façade.

 

The next example is easy to miss as it is tucked away in a little courtyard off Grape lane, which itself is one of the smaller streets in the city centre.

Onwards and upwards to Barnitts on Colliergate.

Not only does this clock tell us that Barnitts was founded in 1896, but also that Ian Thompson completed 50 years of service for the company. That is a nice touch.

 

 

 

And finally, after tramping (or perhaps flaneuring) all around the main shopping area of the city centre we come to DIG on St Saviourgate. DIG is  branded as an archaeological adventure, and is housed in the old St Saviour's church. The church dates back to the 11th century, but the current building mainly dates from 1845.

 

 

 The clock was manufactured by GJF Newey, and was installed to honour those who fell in the First World War. It was subsequently restored in 2011.