North Harrow to Pinner

This all started in Piccadilly, central London. Yesterday I was browsing the books in Waterstones, when I saw a picture of a clock in North Harrow in the book Metroburbia ("Metroburbia: The Anatomy of Greater London" by Paul l Knox). A quick trawl of the internet whilst having a cup of tea and apple pie soon tracked the location down, and as it was a nice day, off I went.

The nearest station is North Harrow on the Metropolitan Line. And very close to the station is this clock on (what was) Warner & Co estate agents.

The building is now occupied by Flint Insurance, and the freehold is up for sale. Whilst this side of the clock is worn but intact, the other face has been considerably damaged. My fear is that with new owners this clock will be lost for good. But let's hope that they decide to repair it.

And so to the actual target of my trip, the Wealdstone Motors clock on Pinner Road.

As you may have guessed, Wealdstone Motors are a used car dealer. as their website says that they were founded in 1976, they were clearly not the original occupiers of this premises, which forms the southern end of a parade of businesses and flats built in 1933. For the latter date I am indebted to the Modernism in Metroland website (www.modernism-in-metroland.co.uk) which I must check out in more detail. And we are indeed in Metroland, those London suburbs built in conjunction with the expansion of the Metropolitan Railway.

The need to hunt for further clocks is ever present, so I headed on northwards. But the dominant Wealdstone Motors clock has clearly seen off all others. By the time I had come to this conclusion I was halfway to the next station - do I retrace my steps or press onwards? Sunny weather, plenty of time, so onwards to Pinner it was.

Now Pinner has the 1930s suburbia, but it also has a much older High Street looked over by the St John the Baptist church.

The church building dates from the early 14th century, with the tower a modern addition erected in the 15th century.

Retracing my steps to the main road, I realised I had walked right past this Robsons clock - which is difficult to see if you rounded the corner on the building side of the street.

 Moving on to Love Lane, the location for Bradley & Jones funeral directors. As I have mentioned several times before, many funeral directors have clocks. This one is a freestanding example on a pole outside their premises.

This next clock was obscured by a parked scaffolding lorry.

This is in the window of the Post Office. Whilst the other pinner clocks were showing the right time, this one was several hours behind.

 And finally, on to Pinner station to catch the Metropolitan Line back to central London. The railway here seems to have the same problem as the post office - trains and mail clearly don't need to run to time.

Margate

A trip to the Kent coast, to the old resort of Margate. Famous for Dreamland, Hornby trains, Tracey Emin, and now the Turner Contemporary gallery (with current excellent exhibitions on Mondrian and Edmund De Waal).

The most obvious clock in the town is that of the clock tower, built to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

The clock tower was officially opened on 24 May 1889. The four clock faces are each 5 feet in diameter, and the clock itself is by Potts of Leeds. Loads more facts about the building and the clock (and indeed the time ball which sits on top of the tower) can be found in "Margate Clock Tower" by Mike Bundock, and published by Margate Civic Society (2013).

Margate railway station was opened in 1863 (originally being called Margate West), and is served by the domestic High Speed services from St Pancras. The modern trains look rather out of place in the station.

The current station building dates from 1926, and includes this interesting clock in the booking hall.

This next fine building in Market Place is the old town hall. 

The Pier and Harbour Company building of 1812 is located next to...well, the harbour. And also right next door to the Turner Contemporary. Turner may have love the light conditions in Margate, but I doubt he enjoyed the stench of the harbour mud when the tide is out. The building is now used as a tourist information centre.

The tower has two different styles of clock face. Oddly, the plainer version is the one which faces the entrance.

The building was destroyed by bombing in WWII, and was rebuilt to its old design in 1947. And it is apparently called Droit House.

A newer clock tower now, that of the College Square shopping centre. This fairly tacky piece of architecture sits on land that used to be Margate College.

 

A fairly uninspiring (and cheap looking) clock face, which show some considerable deterioration on the other side.

St John the Baptist church is at the top end of the High Street. There has been a church on the site since about 1050, and the current building was thoroughly restored during the 1870s.

More retail now. And not a bad attempt to provide a clock as gateway to the arcade, what with its bells and other sculptural features.

The minute hand has come in for a bit of damage - I assume it is vandalism, given the relative ease in which someone could climb up to it.

The clock on the other end of the arcade is stuck at two minutes to twelve.