The Many Faces of Royal Tunbridge Wells

Following news from a regular reader of this blog of the recent restoration of the NPI clock on Camden Road, I thought it would be a nice idea to make a bit of a list of my favourite public clocks, starting with the wonderful squirrel-adorned clock of NPI, who moved their head office to Tunbridge Wells back in 1966.

NPI Squirrel Clock

The beautiful gold-emblazoned NPI clock is connected to a socket in an office inside the building and whilst the building was empty for some years the switch had been turned off so passers-by could never see the right time. A keen-eyed reader saw an old photograph of the mayor of the time cutting a ribbon for the new building and wrote to the Town Hall requesting that someone officially ask for the clock to be switched back on. The mayors secretary did some detective work, pulled a few strings and today the squirrel tells all of us the right time. Why is there a squirrel sitting on top of it? Well he was used in NPI’s famous advertising campaign of the 1980s.

Weisbaden Sundial

The original copper and brass sundial, which was presented to Tunbridge Wells by the town of Wiesbaden in 1973, mysteriously disappeared a couple of years ago and was replaced, again by our twin town, with this lovely shiny new stainless steel one.
The new sundial, which was commissioned by our Council and made by Weisbaden based firm Metallbau Orlob, is an equatorial bow sundial. In this style of sundial the sun hits the gnomon (indicator), which in this case is an arrow which is parallel to the rotation axis of the Earth, causing a shadow to fall on the semi-circular clock face telling you the time. Weather depending of course.

Millennium Clock

This one divides opinion like nothing else. Some like it, some hate it, me personally, I think it’s a great clock but would perhaps be perfect if it was twice the size. You can’t argue it’s a great piece of art.
The 5metre high structure is made of steel and bears fruit in the shape of numbers to represent the passing of time and was designed by local sculptor Jon Mills for the Millennium celebrations.

Payne & Sons Clock

This landmark clock belongs to the famous jewellers and silversmiths, Payne & Sons, one of the oldest families of jewellers in England and can trace its history back to 1790.
Clock House, or 37 High Street, is one of a terrace built by William Willicombe and has been used in several television appearances. The Post Office used the shop as the setting for its national advertising campaign in 1987, British Telecom and John Cleese filmed there too, as did Peter Bowles in Perfect Scoundrels. Unfortunately it seems that this clock is too complex to repair, even for a watch repairer.

Trinity Church Tower

From its white doves resting in the eaves to the hundreds of starlings gathering on its spires, this clock is a meeting place for many and is usually the first clock visitors to the town see as it towers above surrounding structures.
The tower is built from locally quarried sandstone and was restored recently in 2000 thanks to a grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

King Charles the Martyr

Ahh, you were thinking of Polly Peachum’s Clock that is sitting atop the roof but the less well know sundial sitting on the wall is my favoured timepiece of the two. The sundial was installed in 1771 to regulate the mechanical clock on the tower above which was installed in 1759. Polly’s Clock (named after the mistress of the donor who donated the £66 to buy it) actually stood motionless for exactly a year in 1997 whilst a new electronic time-keeping governor was added and now the beautiful sundial is just an antiquity.

Railway Station Clock

For many years this clock was unreliable, which for such a prominent and relied upon clock was rather useless. Whenever the seasons changed it took the railway months to change the time. The problem was access, which was dangerous and about 25 years ago British Rail said they could not afford to move the electric socket which was used to change the time. The electrician’s cost was established to be about £150 so there was a small whip round and money was given to British Rail who were sufficiently embarrassed, when pressured with an appearance in the newspapers, to get the socket moved.
A couple of years after this, the clock began to fall into disrepair again, so began another long campaign to Network Rail and TWBC, and today the clock is perfect, painted nicely and works correctly.

Hermes House Clock

This building always captures my gaze when passing along St. Johns Road.
The rather unusual but no less beautiful building used to be a Christian Science Church until becoming the home to the FTA in 1975. I guess all freight set their watches by it.

Western Railway Station Tower Clock

Built to impress arriving travellers, the grandiose West Station was built on the edge of town where there was room to spare, as opposed to the Central Station which was built into a space.

The Pantiles Clock

This much-photographed timepiece was installed in 1924 and was used to advertise the Regency Restaurant.

Salomons Tower

This clock is embedded into the side of a huge water tower which fed the stable block of the great Salomons House, which was complete with its own central heating and mechanical horse feeding system.

Carrs Court Clock

The first clock in town you see if you arrive from the A21, a welcome sight when returning home.

St. Johns Church Clock

In 1896 work began on enlarging and improving the old church to include a new south aisle, a new roof, and moving the tower to its present position. Such was the response to the financial appeal that it was decided to also install a clock.
The works were all completed in Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee year 1897, and the 'Victoria Tower' was dedicated on the national jubilee holiday.

Dandelion Clock

Probably not the most accurate of clocks but always a summer treat on any country walk.

So there you are, you have no excuse to be late for anything with this many faces telling you the time. One thing I did notice is that Mount Sion seems to be clockless, am I right? Do you have a favourite?
I would like to thank Max Lewis for his help and inspiration in this post.

Comments

[PPP]

Before it was FTA - the building was also used as PPP's Head Office until its move to Crescent Road

[Stephen Upsall]

Hello!
I'm Stephen Upsall of Trinity Theatre Company, local stand up comic and potential independant MP for Tunbridge Wells!
You very kindly promote TTC@Trinity and that's fab but wondered whether you might consider a bit of a 'splash' to our Christmas extravaganza - A Christmas Carol at Trinity this Dec and Jan - a staggering 28 performances and a 'locally sourced' professional show!

Also - are you aware of the Therapy Room Comedy Club at The Grey Lady? Last Thu of each month, I compere it and do a lot of 'local' material, you'd be very welcome as I adore your blog!

Hope this finds you well, my work email/contact is below!

Steve

[Anke]

Nice one, Dave. Thanks very much for that interesting fact and thanks for taking the time to comment :)

[Dave Barnett]

Chris,

In a book I have about NPI's history, actually called the Squirrel and the Clock, there is a short section on the providence of the squirrel.

When the London office (48 Gracechurch St) was rebuilt in 1961, this was added to replace an older 'flat' clock. When it was suggested there should be something distinctive about the new clock some ink-blotter doodlings by one of the Directors provided the answer, the provident squirrel!

When, a few years later, NPI starting moving staff to Tunbridge Wells, the squirrel and the clock were replicated in the new building in Calverley Road.

I believe, although I haven't been past for a few years, that the clock in Gracechurch St. is still there and working.