Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower is a major landmark and popular meeting point in the Leicester city centre. It is located roughly in the middle of the area inside the ring-road, and is at the point where five major streets (Gallowtree Gate, Humberstone Gate, Belgrave Gate, Church Gate and High Street) meet, and also close by to the junction with Cheapside.
The Clock Tower was constructed in 1868, as a centre piece for a traffic island for the increasingly busy Haymarket/Eastgates junction (its business grew with Leicester's expansion and with the adoption of what is now the A6 as the primary road to London). A competition was held for the design, this was won by Joseph Goddard. The tower was built mostly in Ketton stone. Funding was provided largely by private subscription, with the initial origanisation being from John Burton.
Officially a memorial, the Clock Tower has four statues of sons of Leicester, one at each corner. The figures are Simon de Montfort, William Wyggeston (spelt 'William Wigston' on the tower itself), Thomas White and Gabriel Newton.
Before the construction of the Clock Tower the site had been used for and Assembly Room building, built in 1750, which was re-used and divided as shops in 1801. These had been demolished in 1862.
Originally a traffic island at a 5-way junction, the Clock Tower was later converted to be the centre-piece of a roundabout, in 1926. Pedestrianisation has now led to Humberstone Gate and Gallowtree Gate being shut off from traffic, and the Clock Tower is now bounded by a road solely on the northern side.
Leicester City Council has recently unveiled plans to greatly enhance the Clock Tower through extensive de-cluttering to achieve a restored landmark public space at the heart of the city. The result is to be a significant public square with a cosmopolitan character.[1][2] Construction on the new site is under way as of September 2007.
On Monday 5th November 2007 both the Leicester Mercury and The Sun printed articles on a hoax petition, set up by local man Luke Anthony Williams where over 3000 people joined a Facebook group to save the Clock Tower, even though plans to demolish the monument where untrue and the only source that he could provide was a Wikipedia edit made by himself.[3][4]
The Clock Tower is the de rigueur meeting place in the city centre.
