At the junction where five major streets converge near the centre of Leicester’s ring-road, the Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower has been a fixture of the city since 1868. The five streets meeting at this point are Gallowtree Gate, Humberstone Gate (A47), Haymarket (A607), Church Gate (A6), and Eastgates (A47), making the Clock Tower one of the busiest pedestrian crossroads in the city.
History and Construction
Before the Clock Tower was built, the site held an Assembly Room dating from 1750, which was later divided into shops in 1805. Local property owners regarded the building as an obstruction and campaigned for its removal; it was demolished in 1862. A hay market that had occupied the same area was then relocated to Humberstone Gate, leaving a wide open space that proved difficult for pedestrians to navigate safely amid heavy traffic. Local businesses, aware of plans for an illuminated clock elsewhere in the city, petitioned for a clock with lamps and a statue to be erected here. An organisation was formed in 1867 under John Burton – a photographer whose shop sat beside the proposed site – to raise funds through subscriptions and a public concert. The architect Joseph Goddard’s design was selected from 105 submitted entries. A total of 472 subscribers contributed £872 2s 9d, with the Corporation of Leicester covering the remainder of the £1,200 cost. The structure was built primarily in Ketton stone, with a base of Mountsorrel granite, column shafts of polished Peterhead granite and serpentine, and statues carved from Portland stone. The clock mechanism was supplied by Gillett and Bland of Croydon. Before construction began, the junction of two of the city’s main sewers directly beneath the site had to be modified.
The Four Statues
Officially a memorial, the Clock Tower carries four statues, one at each corner, representing figures of significance to Leicester: Simon de Montfort, Thomas White, William Wyggeston (spelled ‘William Wigston’ on the plinth itself), and Gabriel Newton. The original petition had specifically called for a statue of Thomas White, described by campaigners as an “unparalleled benefactor.” The tower was designed to stand between 35 and 40 feet tall and to include four illuminated clock faces, four statuettes, a platform roughly 18 feet square, and lamps to assist pedestrians crossing the busy junction. Tram lines were installed in the surrounding area between 1903 and 1904, a sign of how the traffic at this point – originally entirely horse-drawn – changed over the decades following the tower’s completion.