Eastgate Clock, Chester

The Eastgate Clock is known as the second most photographed clock in England after Big Ben. The clock was erected on the Eastgate in 1899 and commemorates Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee of 1897. The original plan was for a stone clock, but it was feared his design would block light to neighbouring buildings. After much public debate the stone clock design was cast aside in favour of the wrought iron structure. Until 1974 the clock was hand wound once a week.

December 2011

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In 1896 a commitee was set up to come up with an idea of a monument or statue to be designed for the Eastgate area of the city and the idea of a memorial tower and clock was born.'John Douglas'was invited to prepare the design and the commitee carried a notion to erect a light iron work structure containing a clock,the design was approved in 1898.
The clock faces and mechanism was made by'Joyce company'in Shropshire who until 1974 supplied a technician to travel to Chester each week to wind it.The official opening of the clock was performed on the 27th May 1899,which was Queen Victoria's 80th birthday.
After souvenir hunters stole the hands from the clock,the city council glazed the clock faces in 1988.In 1992 an electrical mechanism was put in to replace the wind up mechanism and the clock faces were restored to their original colours.
It is said to be the second most photographed clock in the world after 'Big Ben'.

The Eastgate Clock is the main city centre land mark. People meet here (so not excuses for being late!), it's a great place to people watch and it's a good place to start your walk around the city walls.

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A clock was added to the top of the gateway in 1899 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

It is mounted on iron pylons, and there is a clock face on all four sides with a copper ogee cupola.

The clock was designed by the Chester architect John Douglas.

The whole structure of the gateway and the clock, became a listed Grade 1 building on 28 July 1955.

The clock is very prominent; and is a very much photographed tourist attraction; It is sometimes difficult to get a good image of the clock, due to the narrowness of the wall that it is sitting above and the way the light hits the structure.

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The Iron work clock over the Eastgate Arch is over 100 years old and was originally concieved to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 but it was completed and installed 2 years later in time for the Queens 80th birthday. It is probably the most photographed clock in the world after Big Ben.
The Arch beneith it stands where two gates once stood. The first was built by the Romans and consisted of two massive stone arches and flanking towers that guarded the main road from London to York.
The Second was built in the middle ages and had two octagonal towers that were four storeys high. These were demolished in 1766 to make way for the present arch.
If you don't walk all around the City Walls it is certainly worth climbing the steps at the side of the arch to view the clock and the great views of Eastgate Street.

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Eastgate clock is a great feature right in the heart of the Centre, situated above the Eastgate (funny that eh!). The Clock tower was erected in 1899 to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria two years earlier in 1897. The ornate iron framework was designed by John Douglas and built by James Swindley, a Handbridge blacksmith. The clock itself was made by J.B Joyce of Whitchurch, with a pinwheel deadbeat mechanism operated by a pendulum weighing over 50kg.

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Chester's Eastgate Clock is the second most photographed clock in Britain, after Big Ben. Designed by John Douglas, it was erected to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Eastage is a Grade 1 listed building.

The clock consists of a cuboid housing with clock faces on every side. The clock faces use Roman numerals and are made of frosted glass, allowing an internal lamp to illuminate the hands at night. The mechanism used an innovative system to house the weights which powered the clock within the small frame, leading to the popular opinion that a smaller, but less accurate, spring mechanism had been employed instead. The pendulum weighed one Imperial hundredweight (50 kg), in order to protect the pendulum from being moved by high winds.The roof of the clock is made of green copper

The clock required weekly winding until 1992, when the original wind-up mechanism was replaced by an electric one, to reduce maintenance costs. JB Joyce of Whitchurch are in charge of maintaining the clock, and until the conversion to electricity, sent somebody to wind the clock every week.

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The present gateway was constructed by Lord Grosvenor in 1769. When the Medieval Eastgate was taken down. Traces of the Roman arches were found inside the later structure. The clock was added later in 1897 and was presented to the city by Edward Evans-Lloyd, Citizen and Freeman.

I once read that the Eastgate Clock is the most photographed clock in England. I've no idea whether this is true, but certainly if you are to visit Chester on a Saturday afternoon in summer, it is difficult to pass down the street in a straight line for the numbers of people stopping dead to take a snapshot. The bridge is part of the city's Roman Walls (although the current section dates back only as far as the 18th century), and the clock itself was presented to commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in the late 19th century.

It's an easy landmark to find in Chester and so many visitors use it as a meeting point. So many in fact that it can be difficult to find who you are looking for. Head instead for a less crowded landmark such as the market cross at the top of Bridge Street, where you are less likely to be trampled by shoppers!

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This was once the eastern gate to the old Roman city of Dewa. Today, it is a busy thoroughfare, lined with half-timbered houses. Where the walls cross over the street is an arch, built in the 18th century.

On top of the arch is a highly decorative clock, constructed there in 1897 to observe Queen VIctoria's Diamond Jubilee. This occasion marked 60 years since her accession to the royal throne. The clock still works, and is a masterpiece of Victorian-era mechanical engineering.