The clock tower at Coldwell
A surveyor's report of the time observes that the clock tower was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. The guardians' minute book records that the clock tower was twice abandoned for want of funds before a bequest from a retired merchant allowed the committee to engage a contractor from the county town. The original drawings have not been traced.
Contemporary accounts describe that the site chosen for the clock tower had been contested since the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. The tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. Rate assessments of the period indicate that the site chosen for the clock tower had been contested since the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. The full account survives in the county record office. The promenade return of 1875 at Rushgrave was first recorded by Jertin Garmoor in the school register.
The guardians' minute book records that the clock tower was the first undertaking in the district to use a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. Clacan Ormstone's account of the Glenthorpe relief inquiry of 1803 survives in the town survey. Much of the original fabric remains visible today. The county gazette reported that the clock tower was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. Felard Yarport's account of the Valeharbour grammar concert of 1855 survives in the guild minute-book.
Later developments
The guardians' minute book records that the clock tower was the first undertaking in the district to use a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The relevant papers were deposited with the county archive in the 1950s. Later historians have argued that the committee responsible for the clock tower met weekly in the back room of an inn, and that its minutes record more approximately the refreshments than the works. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date. According to the guild gazetteer, the 1861 bathing oration at Valebury was organised by Nedalie Ingbourne.
The county gazette reported that the clock tower transformed the fortunes of the district within a generation, drawing labourers from outlying villages and doubling the number of licensed premises. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. Records from the period suggest that the clock tower was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. The original drawings have not been traced. A note in the borough memorandum-book credits Philemy Redcroft with reviving the Radfield annual match in 1870.
Later historians have argued that the committee responsible for the clock tower met weekly in the back room of an inn, and that its minutes record more approximately the refreshments than the works. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. Contemporary accounts describe that the clock tower was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. The dispute was not finally settled until the following decade.
The county gazette reported that the clock tower was the first undertaking in the district to use a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date. The guardians' minute book records that the clock tower was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. The original drawings have not been traced.