The Morley Town Hall Clock has been broken for a few weeks. From the Obtiser:
VISITORS to the town centre may have noticed the town hall clock is fixed at 12 o’clock – but fear not, it will be back working shortly.
The spring and pendulum have both broken, but it should be fixed within the next few weeks.
I have tried (without success) to see inside the clock tower. The mechanism is now a curate’s egg- the only people allowed to look at it are from the horologists.
I’ve also lobbied (without success) for it to be photo-documented. It might as well get replaced with an electronic mechanism which will have a number of operational benefits, but being a Grade 1 listed building, it does need to be carefully documented for historical purposes.
The clock very nearly came to a nasty end 46 years ago and the building could have also been lost, especially if the bells had come crashing down into the Civic Suite below. Local photographer Leslie Overend was there to document it though, and I am grateful to have been able to get permission to put up these photos. They tell their own story, although I have included the original captions.
On the morning of August 18, 1961 a fire started in a mill in Wellington Street, next to Morley Town Hall (pictured left).
Strong winds blew burning embers on to the wooden dome of the Town Hall, setting it alight.
The fire-damaged clock mechanism.
Looking out through the clock face from inside the tower.
The fire-damaged Town Hall still smoulders.
As these images are Copyright www.leslieoverend.com, they have been reduced in size somewhat The collection has tens of thousands of negatives available for scanning/printing.
Really interesting pics, never seen those before
Notice the head in the shield over the balustrade opening in the 4th photo- I wonder who it is? Prince Albert?
What excellent photos. I’m glad they ahve been saved for posterity
I am fascinated by the clock mechanism. It’s huge. Luckily all was saved.
It is much smaller than the Parliament Clock, which can be seen Here
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Hi Ian,
I sent you some pix some time ago of Morley Town Hall fire, and you were good enough to publicise my Overend’s Morley book and website (www.leslieoverend.com).
I remember you showing interest in the Pavilion, and I looked for pictures of its interior for you – without much luck.
Back in October I was invited to give a talk at the Morley Lit Fest on Leslie Overend’s life and work. I illustrated the talk with lots of pictures – including some I found of Pat Phoenix (Coronation Street’s Elsie Tanner) visiting the Pavilion during its Star Bingo days.
Most of the pictures were taken inside the old Pavilion and although they used a stage and there is some bingo paraphernalia visible, the interior is largely as I remember it (in all its filthy glory) when I used to visit it as a kid to watch Saturday afternoon matinees in the mid- late-1960s.
One of the pictures was even taken from the balcony – I can’t remember ever being able to afford going up there.
If you fancy seeing/using the pix please email me – a computer failure means I have lost many of my old addresses.
Hope all’s well.
Cheers,
Steve White
My dad had told me as I was growing up that I was born, ‘the day Morley Town Hall caught fire.’ Today on my 49th birthday, I thought I would check this out and we do indeed share this anniversary, thanks for the pictures – Carole
Happy birthday Carole!
Hi Shades/Carole,
I’ve just received your email re. the new post, having returned home from hols this afternoon.
According to my records, the Town Hall fire happened on August 18, 1961.
Contrary to what I have read on the Morley Community Archives website (http://www.morleyarchives.ik.com/p_townhall.ikml), which says the fire happened on August 16, 1961, the fire caused considerable damage to much of the town hall. The dome was destroyed and the clocktower and contents were badly damaged. But water damage also caused huge damage to the rest of the town hall. Ceilings collapsed and walls, furnishings, pictures, paintings, etc were wrecked.
Incidentally, while reviewing some of former Morley Observer photographer Leslie Overend’s film negs recently, I came across more than 50 “new” images of the aftermath of the blaze (Leslie was in the Scilly Isles when the fire broke out).
Prints from any of Leslie’s negatives, taken in a career that spanned 1926-1983, are available via my website, http://www.leslieoverend.com
Belated birthday wishes Carole. Here’s to an even bigger celebration next August!
SteveW
I remember the occasion when I was 11 years old. The local Chemist took some photos and sold them as postcards that I kept in my scrapbook for many years – lost now unfortunately. I think he hand colored them. are some of these photos them?
Well the MORLEY TOWN HALL FIRE livened up my birthday that year. I remember going to watch even tho I was very young! carole
As a follow-up on this, I discovered a few years ago that the clock movement was completely replaced by Potts in 1962. Still no explanation about the strange crest on the wall though.
An excellent set of photos of the Town Hall hidden spaces can be found here- http://www.myspace.com/phill.d/blog/470247072