The Clock Tower, formerly the general offices of the Bestwood Coal and Iron Company

The Clock Tower, formerly the general offices of the Bestwood Coal and Iron Company

Offices built between 1873 and 1876 to the design of Thomas Worthington for the Bestwood Coal and Iron Company. The building stands approximately 0.5 kilometres north-west of the colliery winding engine house (scheduled and listed Grade II*) on the south side of Park Road.

The building is constructed from red bricks sourced from the company's own brickworks, laid in English bond, with banded courses of ashlar and stone detailing. The roof is covered with slate and finished with scalloped terracotta ridge tiles.

The offices are set over two storeys with a four-stage clock tower adjoining. The plan comprises a rectangular main range aligned roughly east to west with projecting bays to the north and west. The building is designed in Gothic Revival style with its entrance elevation facing west and its most formal elevation facing south.

The main entrance is through a projecting two-storey gabled porch with a four-centred opening leading to a recessed doorway fitted with modern double-doors beneath a large toplight with glazing bars. A blocked doorway with an inserted window aperture is also present. A pair of windows sits within the porch gable above. Windows throughout are generally one-over-one timber sashes with continuous stone banding connecting heads and sills.

The clock tower adjoins the porch on its south side, square on plan with a pyramidal roof. The upper storey features a dentil eaves course and on each side is a pair of unglazed arched openings sharing a central coupled stone column and drip mould. Two clock faces are positioned about three-quarters of the way up the tower, facing north and south, with slit windows to the east and west faces. On the north side of the tower is a niche containing a carved shield bearing the intertwined initials of the Bestwood Coal and Iron Company. The ground floor south side has a large arched door opening, now blocked, and there are single storey pier buttresses to the corners of the tower.

The south elevation displays five flush bays beneath a row of coped gables. The three central bays contain paired windows, whilst the two outer bays have groups of three windows. The north side has three projecting gabled bays and an adjoining single-storey flat-roofed range. Windows are grouped irregularly, with three stepped windows at ground floor level indicating the internal staircase position. End gables have central slit windows. External chimney stacks rise from the east and west elevations, and multiple roof stacks are present, all finished with stone banding.

The main entrance leads to a central corridor running east to west through the building with offices opening off either side. The corridor retains moulded cornicing, skirting and door architraves. A large internal window divided by a central mullion and transoms separates the corridor from the northernmost office. The main staircase rises from the east end of the corridor and features carved octagonal newel posts with finials and a solid balustrade.

On the first floor the main stairwell is enclosed with glazed partitioning incorporating mullions and transoms. The first floor landing retains decorative corbelling and moulded door architraves. Modern fire doors are installed throughout. Original doors, where they survive, are four-panelled.