Mercer Memorial Tower

The Mercer Memorial Tower is a memorial clock tower built in 1903 in Great Harwood to honor John Mercer, an industrial chemist known for inventing "mercerisation." Designed by A.H. Dunkin, who was the Surveyor to the Urban District Council, the clock was made by William Potts & Sons of Leeds. The tower is constructed from sandstone ashlar with red Scotch granite shafts and colonnettes, topped with a copper-clad dome, and is designed in a Free Baroque style.

It features a square base that supports a two-stage domed turret. The open base has four rounded arches with shafts and keystones, and the corners are adorned with banded Ionic pilasters. Above the arches are lettered tablets, a moulded cornice, and a balustrade with large finials at each corner. The turret consists of a tall first stage with pilastered diagonal corners and tall narrow windows framed with Gibbs surrounds. The shorter second stage displays four clock faces, paired colonnettes at the corners, a prominent octagonal cornice, and a copper-clad dome with louvres at the angles and a finial on top.