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Summary

Former location of an iron pillar with clock on top, erected in 1889 in the centre of the Broadway and commemorating 50 years of Queen Victoria's reign

Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status

• Conservation Area: Newbury Town Centre

Monument Type(s):

• COMMEMORATIVE MONUMENT (Late 19th century to Early to Mid 20th century - 1889 AD to 1929 AD)
• ORNAMENTAL CLOCK (Late 19th century to Early to Mid 20th century - 1889 AD to 1929 AD)

Full Description

In the centre of the Broadway in Speenhamland there have been several structures, replacing earlier buildings and possibly a wayside chapel <1>. The first clearly documented monument at this site was the early 19th century gas lamp <1><2> on top of a pillar of Bath stone, also referred to as an 'obelisk', which was later moved to the corner of the Bath Road and Speen Lane to make way for the second monument <3>. This was an ornamental four faced clock mounted on top of a tall cast ironwork pillar: the occasion of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887 led to its commissioning and it is recorded that townspeople subscribed £278 5s towards the cost and it was unveiled in 1889 <4>.

The clock was lit from below by four branching gas lanterns, later replaced by free-standing gas lights. Also included were two drinking fountains <4><5>, and a water pump for dampening down the dusty roads. A Russian gun captured in the Crimean War was brought to the site, and a trough for animals was added in 1908 by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association. Chain linked bollards and a traditional red telephone box completed the group by the early 20th century <6>.

The cluttering of the site may have been one reason why this Victorian structure was superseded by the 1929 Clock House. The gun and apparently the clock were melted down in Plenty's Eagle Ironworks during the Second World War <1><4>. According to a Newbury Weekly News article of 18 July 1940, quoted in the West Berkshire Museum accession register <14>, the gun was bought by Mr James Blackford, a Newbury scrap metal dealer, and towed from Victoria Park with a workman sitting on top of its barrel to be melted down at Plenty's for marine engines for the Royal Navy. It yielded three tons of high quality metal. The clock, described as having 'been on the scrap heap for some years', yielded 'five tons of cast iron of the best quality'.

The carving on the top of the Clock House makes reference to the dates and associated monarchs of the two previous structures as well as the present one: GR V 1929; VR1 1887; GR IV 1829.

Photographs and maps document the changing monuments in the centre of the Broadway <7-13>.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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