Newcastle, Exhibition Park, Coronation clock tower

HER Number:
12222

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Newcastle, Exhibition Park, Coronation clock tower

Place:
Newcastle

Map Sheet:
NZ26NW

Class:
Unassigned

Site Type: Broad:
Tower

Site Type: Specific:
Clock Tower

General Period:
Modern

Specific Period:
C20

Form of Evidence:
Structure

Description:
Erected in 1953 as a gift of the Freemen to the City of Newcastle. Built of special brick supplied by the National Coal Board. Cost £757 6s 5d {1}. Has two clock faces, one to the north and one to the south. A Westmorland slate commemorative tablet reads 'THE CLOCK TOWER WAS ERECTED IN 1953 BY THE FREEMEN OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE TO COMMEMORATE THE CORONATION OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II. THE CHAIRMAN WAS LORNE C. ROBSON'. The clock was handed over to the Lord Mayor Ald. W. McKeag on Tuesday 24th November 1953 in a ceremony in the Guildhall. R.W. Bell Ltd built the tower. The clock was supplied by David Summerfield Jewellers. The architect was Charles H. Errington. The roof is made of Canadian red cedarwood and the rear access door is Burnese teak. The clock was lit at night. Not far from the Coronation Clock there is an empty clock frame, a wooden structure 8 feet tall and 4 feet wide. The clock was probably removed due to vandlism. The clock was 'IN MEMORY OF MR T. NICHOLSON. DECEMBER 1927'. Thomas Nicholson, consulting engineer, is buried in St. Andrew's Cemetery. The first clock in Exhibition Park was on the Pavilion entrance hall to the Great Exhibition of 1908.

Easting:
246

Northing:
655

Grid Reference:
NZ246655

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Thomas Yellowley, 2006, Newcastle timepieces in Tyneside's Finest, 2006, p 191; Brenda Whitelock, 1992, Timepieces of Newcastle, pp. 29-30 and 52