Lichfield Clock Tower
Encyclopedia
Lichfield Clock Tower or Friary Clock Tower is a 19th century Grade II listed clock tower located on 'The Friary' south of Festival Gardens in the city of Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...

, Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

The tower was erected in 1863 at the junction of Bird Street and Bore Street over the site of the ancient Crucifix Conduit which supplied water to the Friary
The Franciscan Friary, Lichfield
The Franciscan Friary was once a large estate located on the west side of Lichfield city centre in Staffordshire. The estate was built and inhabited by the Franciscan Friars from 1237...

 since 1301. In the early 20th century, since the invention of the motor car, Bird Street and Bore Street were becoming congested with traffic due to their narrow layout and the position of the clock tower only made matters worse. In 1928 the road named ‘The Friary’ was built across the former Friary site. The building of this road necessitated the relocation of the clock tower, 400m west of its original location along the new road.

History

In the mid 19th century the building of clock towers was in fashion in England. Following the construction of Big Ben in 1858, the Council Chamber of Lichfield mooted the idea of following suit and building their own clock tower in the city.

A number of locations were suggested for the clock tower including the roof of the Guildhall
Guildhall, Lichfield
The Guildhall is a historic building in the centre of Lichfield, Staffordshire in the United Kingdom. Located in Bore Street the Guildhall has been central to the government of the City for over 600 years, and in former times was not only the meeting place of the Corporation but also at various...

 and in the Market Square where it would incorporate the statue of Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...

 into its structure. These ideas were eventually dismissed and it was decided to erect the tower at the junction of Bore Street and Bird Street capping the redundant Crucifix Conduit. The tower was designed by Joseph Potter Jnr.
Joseph Potter (architect)
Joseph Potter , was an English architect and builder from Lichfield, Staffordshire in the United Kingdom. Potter has a considerable practice in Staffordshire and its neighbouring counties in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Potter lived in Pipehill south west of Lichfield and had...

 in a Norman style
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...

and financed by the Lichfield Conduit Lands Trust. When the tower was complete it had cost the Trust £1200. There were originally three clock faces as it was considered uneccessary for a west face as it only looked upon one property; the Friary. However, due to complaints from the tenant at the Friary a fourth face was added. There were numerous problems regarding the accuracy of the clock during its early years until the whole mechanism was overhauled by Joyce of Whitchurch in 1898.

In 1920 the 11 acre Friary estate was sold to Sir Richard Ashmole Cooper (MP for Walsall
Walsall
Walsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...

), who gave it to the city for the purpose of developing the area and laying out a new road. For many years since the invention of the motor car Bird Street and Bore Street were becoming congested with traffic due to their narrow layout, and the position of the clock tower was part of the problem. The west side of Lichfield was still very much undeveloped by 1920 and the city didn’t really extend beyond St John's Street to the west.

In 1928 the road named ‘The Friary’ was built across the former Friary site. The building of this road necessitated the relocation of the clock tower. The clock tower was taken down and re-erected at its current site south of Festival Gardens, some 400m west of its original location. The tower was repaired and restored in 1991 with the assistance of the Conduit Lands Trust. The clock tower is now in the care of Lichfield City Council.

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