Clock This

Macclesfield on a bit of a wet and windy day in March. The consolation was a fine set of clocks across the town.

Working north-east from the station, our first sighting is this building on a not-too-pedestrian friendly junction. The main road to the left of the picture is called The Silk Road, which conjure sup all sorts of romantic images, none of which pertain to the pollutant-laden intrusive reality.

The building is Arighi Bianchi, a furniture store which, judging by how busy its parking attendant was, is doing a roaring trade.

Arighi Bianchi might not sound like a native Macclesfield name, mainly because it isn't. The company's website (www.arighibianchi.co.uk), which has an excellent section on the firm's history, tells the story:

Antonio Arighi Arrives in Macclesfield

Our story begins in 1854, with a long journey on foot from the shores of Lake Como in Northern Italy, over the Alps and across central Europe. Our young adventurer, Antonio Arighi, heads for the silk town of Macclesfield in the North West of England.

On arrival, he sets up shop, making clocks and barometers which he lends out to farmers on sale or return – a canny innovation that proves a real money-spinner.

The company set u in an old silk mill, which in 1892 was renovated and gained a new four-storey extension "inspired by Joseph Paxton's famous Crystal Palace". Unfortunately my photos don't show this part of the building.

Not far away, and even more difficult to navigate to on foot, is a Tesco superstore.

It is a Tesco store. Full marks for having a clock, and a multi-faced one at that, but there is nothing much else to say.

We now move away from The Silk Road and along Hurdsfield Road. Welcoming us is the Holy Trinity church.

Holy Trinity dates from 1839, although the clock is a later addition of 1876.

From Holy Trinity, my route took me down Fence Avenue, past Victoria Park with its fine bandstand (which my book "Bandstands of Britain" by Paul Rabbitts tells me is by Walter MacFarlane & Co of Glasgow and dates from 1894) and along Buxton Road. I was in search of a clock which perched on top of a building on the corner of Union Road. Sadly this clock is no longer there, but my consolation was to spot the following clock in the new housing development of Roan House Way.

A local resident suggested that the clock was reclaimed from an old mill, but I haven't yet found any evidence of this, or any information on Roan House.

We are now off down Black Road until it meets Windmill Street, in search of our second church of the day.

St Peters was built in 1849.

Our next clock is a wall-mounted one on the outside of the Grosvenor Shopping Centre on Castle Street. I have no information about this clock, and particularly why it is there.

Another church, and one that dominates the view from many vantage points. This is St Michael, which has a history dating back to the 13th century.

As usual with churches of this age, it has been modified and re-built many times, notably in 1740 and then again in 1901. The pictures above were taken in the rain at 1pm, but you can see below that the day did eventually brighten up.

Pictures of then and now photographs of towns are often a good source for tracking down clocks (although often a disheartening reminder that many fine examples have been lost). This next location is a direct result of flicking through such a book in the local Waterstones.

This is a car park on Hibel Road at the junction with Jordongate.

And now to something a bit older.

The Clock Tower building was once part of Macclesfield Hospital, but was converted into flats in 2011. it can be found by the junction of Cumberland Street and Prestbury Road.

We are on quite a trek now to the western parts of the town. One unexpected find was Regency Mill
at the junction of Cumberland Street and Chester Road.

The mill dates from the 1820s, originally as part of the local silk industry, but also but to use as a card factory and joinery over its lifetime.

A long walk down Chester Road brings us to 151 Broken Cross. I know very little about this clock or the property, other than it is a shop with a clock.

On the way I glimpsed an interesting set of buildings up an entrance way, so it was time to go exploring on the long walk back from Broken Cross. You get a nose for the sort of places and buildings that might yield results. and sure enough, a clock tower loomed up through the drizzle.

This is The Towers, which is of course a modern residential conversion of an older building.

The older building in question is Parkside Hospital, which was an asylum opened in May 1871.

The building can best be viewed from Victoria Road (which avoids the circuitous route around the new residential streets that I had to take approaching it from Chester Road).

The hospital closed in January 1997.

We are back in the main part of the town again, more specifically in Bridge Street.

The Drill Hall was built in 1871 for the 8th Cheshire Rifle Volunteers. Like Parkside Hospital, it has since been converted into residential use. Which probably explains why there is a clock face (indeed several) without any hands.

Further south on Bridge Street is Christ Church.

Although it has not been converted into residential use like the Drill Hall and Parkside Hospital, it has been disused since 1981, having been built in 1775.

Just one more clock to go. And of course this is an old building that has been converted for residential use. It also refers back to the military history of Drill Hall, as this is Barracks Square on what was, of course, the old army barracks, built in 1836.

Its been a long time. Over a year in fact. I haven't stop visiting towns and the shutter on my camera has been bust, it is just that I haven't got round to writing up the blog. So, here we go again at last, with the same old format but some new towns and clocks.

I will start with my latest visits, and gradually try and catch up with the backlog.

Hello Warrington. A place which will always remind me of the Smirnoff adverts from the 1970s - wodka from Varrington.

The landmark clock in the town is that of Holy Trinity church.

Holy Trinity dates from 1760. The clock tower can be seen from many parts of the town, but is actually quite difficult to see from close up.

According to "Warrington in 50 Buildings (Janice Hayes (2016) - Amberley Publishing) the tower the tower dates from 1862 and belongs to the town rather than the church. Which makes a lot of sense as I would have guessed that it sat on a town hall rather than a church.

So what else is there in Warrington? No less than one of the ancient wonders of the world - well, The Pyramid to be precise, or the Pyramid Art Centre in Palmyra Square to be even more precise.

This is the new glass entrance which links the former county court and Inland Revenue building with the ex Technical School. Apologies that the clock is hard to see due to the strong sunlight and reflections, but if you look hard enough you will see it.

Onwards to Academy Way, which is currently a combination of one massive development site (a new shopping centre?) and a recently completed (and quite magnificent) car park.

I love this clock because of its simplicity of design, using the brick material of the main building, because of its clarity for someone using it as a time piece (or would be if it was working), and because it is not trying to be a pastiche of an old clock design. I am not sure of the longevity of tis building because of all the development around it, but let's hope it stays.

Oh, and the new car park?

Let's have another church. This is St James, to the south of the town centre on Wilderspool Causeway.

The church dates from 1829/30, and, in the words of the British Listed Buildings website (www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk), is "in the simple Gothic style of the early C19".

What I have now discovered is I should have continued down Wilderspool Causeway to find another clock on Elphins Drive, but that will now have to wait for another day.

Back now to the town centre, and the corner of Bridge Street and Town Hill.

Currently empty, months of research led me to believe that this was a former bank building. This was confirmed by the large sign!

My final destination was a church that could be seen out to the east of the town. But on the way out along Church Street I had the bonus of this modern clock at the Select Healthcare premises.

And then finally to the church, which is St Elphins, otherwise known as the Warrington Parish Church.

The church dates form the 12th century, and has undergone all the usual alterations and rebuilding of parts over the years that churches of this age endure.