Public Well And Clock Tower, Main Street, West Linton

The Public Well and Clock Tower, located on Main Street in West Linton, dates to 1861, with additions made in 1894. It is an octagonal-plan structure combining a public well and a clock tower, and is constructed of dressed sandstone ashlar. The front (east) elevation features a square cut well head set on a base course. Above the well stands a copy of a 1666 statue of the wife of local stonemason James Gifford, situated on a decorated base and flanked by cast-iron lamps supported on scrolled brackets. The octagonal shaft corbels outwards to form a squared upper stage displaying two circular clock faces facing the street; two blank roundels are present on the rear side. An octagonal cap with a weathervane finial sits at the apex of the tower. A narrow timber access door is located on the rear (west) elevation.

The tower occupies a prominent location, representing an ornamental Victorian stone clock tower and well built on the site of an earlier market cross and public well. The original well of 1666 was gifted by James Gifford as a memorial to his wife and children, and originally featured statues of them. The cross was replaced in 1861 and raised in 1894 to create the clock tower with its detailed stonework. The statue of Gifford's wife, dated 1666, was originally positioned on the front. It was removed in 1996 for safety reasons, and in 2001 it was replaced with a cast made by Graciela Ainsworth Associates of Edinburgh. The original statue is now housed in the Graham Institute building.

West Linton has a longstanding tradition of stonecarving due to the availability of high-quality local stone. Examples of 17th century stonework by Gifford can also be found at Spitalhaugh and Paulswell. Additional carved stones in West Linton, likely also by Gifford, are documented in the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) inventory.