Goole Clock Tower Gains Listed Status
A commemorative clock tower in Goole has been listed at Grade II by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the advice of Historic England.
Work began on the Goole clock tower, in East Yorkshire, in 1926 to mark the 100th birthday of the opening of Goole as a town and dock.
And now as the town celebrates its bicentenary, the clock tower, located on a roundabout in the centre of Goole, has been given listed status.
The neoclassical-designed clock was still being constructed in July 1926 when the town celebrated its centenary with an elaborate historical pageant, music and sporting events.
It was jointly funded by local people and the Aire and Calder Navigation Company, who each contributed £500, as an expression of civic pride and was eventually finished in 1927.
It has the years 1826 and 1926 engraved above its four faces and was moved by a few metres in the 1970s due to traffic management issues in Goole and used to house public toilets at its base.
Unlike most listed interwar clock towers, Goole’s was not built as a war memorial, making it a rare example of a public monument from that period.
Historic England recommended the new listing because “it is considered that Goole Clock Tower meets the criteria for listing on account of its dignified, neoclassical design, its rarity as a clock tower celebrating the centenary of a company town, and because it testifies to Goole’s contribution to national economic growth and development”.
Goole clock tower is a landmark in the town, a real focal point and a fitting tribute to 200 years of Goole. It is an elegant structure and now it has reached its own century, it seems only right it has been given Grade II listed status. The clock tower is a fine example of a community coming together in celebration and this listing is hopefully another reason for Goole to acclaim its bicentennial year.
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