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Sunday 26 March 2023

Airmyn Clock

This delightful folly is Airmyn Clock. It was erected in 1865 by the tenants of the Airmyn Estates to honour their beneficent landlord, George Percy, the second Earl of Beverley, who had funded  the village school some years earlier.

It greeted me regularly throughout childhood: on the way to Grandma’s on Saturday mornings, visiting friends by bicycle, on cross-country runs from school, learning to drive round its awkward bend, walking to sixth-form parties and under-age drinking in the Percy Arms. I never took much notice of it in those days. What I could not then have imagined is its connection to my wife, despite her being from the South of England.

Airmyn Clock was designed by Henry Francis Lockwood, an architect best-known for his grand buildings around Bradford, such as the City Hall, St. George’s Hall, Salts Mill and the whole of the associated town of Saltaire where a Lockwood Street is named after him. The clock bears a strong resemblance to his larger Italianate designs, Bradford Wool Exchange in particular. He may have been known in the Airmyn area because of his earlier practice in Hull.

Henry had around ten children, which makes for a complicated genealogy. One line, by way of Ireland and Devon, found its way to the Home Counties where my wife was born. She is a direct descendant of Henry Francis Lockwood.

My wife therefore claims strong Yorkshire antecedents. When we moved (back in my case) to Yorkshire, she took to pronouncing the short Northern As like a local. It would not have gone down at all too well to be asking her Bradford service users whether they were managing all right in the “baarthrum”. 


Image from Geograph. Creative Commons Licence. Copyright Neil Theasby.

32 comments:

  1. Dear Tasker, when I read the name Henry Frances Lockwood, it instantly rung a bell. In one of our narrow boat trips through Great Britain we had visited among others Bradford - Saltaire and all around, I remember Hockney's atelier and the very impressive socially equitable village.
    So your wife is a direct descendant, great.

    I chuckled a bit when you generously wrote "Henry had around ten children" - is it a guess?

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    1. Titus Salt was another beneficent employer. The country is pleasant provided you get good weather, but can be challenging in the cold, wind and rain. I believe 10 children are known. Hockney was one of the exhibitions at Salts mill in recent years. He is from Bradford.

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    2. Of course we had very fine weather! (No joke: whenever I come to England the weather is fine!)

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  2. I come from Baaath, can't stand the short Bath but my accent always attracts a quick look from people round here. In a couple of years we shall all move to Shipley to be by Salt Mills and I will always think Tasker's wife ancestor once built this enormous building.

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    1. Lockwood and Mawson were very successful in the area, and their buildings, large and small, are instantly recognisable once you acquire an eye for them.

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  3. My a's were always short coming, as I do, from Lincolnshire. Interesting tale you tell Tasker.

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    1. I've never lost my short As. Long ones just sound wrong to me.

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  4. What a beautuful clock tower. Shame they don't make them like that anymore.
    Even after living up here for 32 years I still say barthroom and book (instead of booook), which was often a great source of amusement to my work colleagues. My Gran was from Barnsley and had a very strong accent which she never lost after moving "dahn sarth" in the 1930s. I struggled to understand her sometimes.

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    1. Even those from Sheffield, Wakefield and Huddersfield can't understand people from Barnsley.

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  5. I love this post. Those little landmarks from our childhood really do evoke some wonderful memories, and I love that your write them down for us.

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    1. Thank you. The clock has many associations for me, but I never expected that years later we would discover the link to my wife's family.

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  6. It's a beautiful clock tower -- but one wonders why the tenants of Airmyn Estates didn't just build their own village school, if they had enough money to put up that clock! Still, I'm not knocking it. It's great that you used Mr. Pudding's photo. :)

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    1. It would be interesting to see the accounts showing how the money was raised. It was quite a rich agricultural area. Further back, communities build some incredible churches in what now seem small places. Hedon comes to mind.

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  7. How can you call something useful like a clock (and designed by Lockwood) a folly. Surely the tenants didn't have money for true follies.

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    1. I guess you are correct. These days it seems over-designed for purpose, but that is how things were done in the past. Like JayCee, I wish we still did things like that, rather than pure functionality.

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  8. That is a beautiful clock tower. I was born in Bradford and know all the buildings you mentioned. A boyfriend used to take me to St Georges Hall on a Monday for the wrestling, not my cup of tea really, but he was very keen on it. I also used to work in the head office of a building society opposite Town Hall. As for accents, I have never had a broad Yorkshire one unlike my brothers who sometimes I can't understand when they talk fast.

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    1. As mentioned, the clock looks almost like a miniature version of the Wool Exchange. There are some lovely buildings in Bradford. I think the city is on the brink of regaining its former eminence.

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  9. Charming! Both the clock tower and your story!

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  10. That's an interesting piece of family connection. It is a very handsome clock, especially the gold hands on the black face.

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    1. Neither of us could have imagined the connection. It was a real surprise when we discovered it.

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  11. I thought I recognised that photo of the clock! Sadly it was an overcast day when I captured that image. What an amazing co-incidence that your wife was - through family links - connected with that clock! Perhaps your coupling was written in the stars.

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    1. It was an inspired touch to include your bike propped against the flag pole while you were taking a break from Le Tour de Yorkshire (t’baiyk race roun’ t ‘roo-ads).

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    2. Thanks for the translation into Yorkshireish. This aided my comprehension quite significantly.

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  12. Short "A's"? I thought only Americans did that. I like the clock.

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    1. I won't be drawn on Americans, but yes the clock is one of the nost beautiful buildings in the area.

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  13. Ripon has a clocktower, too, but it is not quite as elegant as this one. What an interesting connection to your wife's family!
    From everything I know about Saltaire, it sounds and looks very much like a place I want to visit one day.

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    1. When we visited Saltaire in recent years, I have felt it is set up to cater for the overpriced tourist market, but at least the mill is still standing and used.

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  14. Beautiful structure. And I think it's pretty darn cool that your wife is connected to the Lockwood family tree.

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    1. Another distant relative was Margaret Lockwood the British film actress. She is from a talented family. And didn't she marry well!

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  15. Beautiful clock, interesting history
    Small blog world, from here in Vermont I read the photography Saltaire based blog, Salt and Light.

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    1. It is indeed a lovely clock and tower, but I didn't appreciate it then young. I can't find the blog you mention.

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