Clock Tower

AIRMYN HIGH STREET SE 72 NW (west side) 1/101 Clock Tower GV II Clock tower. 1866-8 by H J Lockwood of Bradford for George Percy, second Earl of Beverley. Banded yellow and pink sandstone, painted timber shafts to second stage, Welsh slate roof. Gothic Revival style. Square on plan, stands on riverbank at corner of main street. 3 stages. First stage: chamfered plinth, angle buttresses with offsets and gabled coping with kneeling angels holding shields. Entrance to east side has 3 stone steps to pointed moulded arch with shafted responds beneath elaborate crocketed gabled hoodmould with finial; 2-fold board doors with ornate wrought-iron strapwork. South side bears inscription: GEORGE EARL OF BEVERLEY 1865 Second stage: angle-shafts with foliate capitals; pair of pointed lighting slits to south and east sides, one to south blind, others glazed. Foliate corbel-table. Top stage has pairs of angle shafts with moulded capitals flanking large recessed pointed panels with moulded surrounds containing central circular openings, those to south and east with clockfaces, that to north with C20 window, that to west boarded-up; gables above have pierced quatrefoils and crocketed coping. 4-sided spire has decorative slates, wrought-iron finial and half-hipped lucarnes with shafted trefoiled openings and slatted louvres. Interior: ladder of built-in iron rungs provides access to top stage and spire; clock and chimes in working order. Built to commemorate the Earl becoming the Duke of Northumberland in 1865; started 1866 and completed 2 years later. D Galloway, Airmyn In Days Gone By, Vol 1, 1984, pp 12-13; ibid, Vol 2, 1985, pp 15-18.

Listing NGR: SE7249725530