Clock Tower

The Clock Tower is a free-standing structure located in Plymouth, built from Plymouth limestone ashlar with darker granite bands. It features a weathered stone roof topped by an octagonal cast-iron spire with a weather vane. The tower has a square plan and is slightly tapered, with a moulded plinth at the base. Each of the three sides has a central carved trefoil-arched drinking-fountain niche, while the fourth side contains a similar doorway with trailing carved detail in its half-domed niche. Midway up the tower, there are cusped and carved hoods over shields. The tower has a machicolated cornice below a narrower clock stage, which includes turned corner shafts flanked by carved details and a carved and moulded eaves cornice. The bellcote features a trefoil arcade with pierced spandrels on turned shafts, and the spire has similar pierced detailing. This clock tower, along with the nearby bank, is one of the few buildings in this part of Plymouth to survive the Blitz. For many citizens, the clock became a symbol of defiance against the enemy and a promise that Plymouth would rise again from the ashes.