Mark’s History: The famous clock faces of Pudsey’s William Potts

0
2080
Leeds town hall clock

In 1833 William Potts had the good sense to move to Pudsey and set up business, writes Mark Stevenson.

There are around 1,600 Potts clocks still ticking around. One of them is in the Town Hall.

Dent of London was chosen to make the Town Hall clock but in 1859 a year after Queen Victoria had opened the Town Hall the clock wasn’t even in Leeds.

Yeadon Town Hall potts clock
Inside Yeadon Town Hall’s Potts clock

From beginning to end the Dent clock was one cock-up after another.

When it was eventually installed in 1860 it did not work properly.

William potts clocks burley
A William Potts clock in Burley. Photo: Mark Stevenson

William Potts was asked if he could sort it out and he had to repair and alter the work so much that it basically became a Potts clock.

_____________

While you’re here…

Producing your daily dose of West Leeds Dispatch comes at a cost!

There’s the hosting of the website you’re reading now, running our popular e-mail newsletter, membership of independent press regulator Impress, attending summer events, paying for equipment etc etc.

We need at least £200 a month just to break even – that’s money currently coming out of the pockets of dedicated volunteers who are passionate about what’s happening in our communities, connecting you with local groups and organisations as well as holding decision-makers to account and championing local issues.

And all that’s BEFORE we even think about paying something for people’s time – for instance, our editor puts in more than 24 hours a week in his ‘spare’ time to ensure The Dispatch publishes daily.

To put it bluntly, after nearly four years of daily publishing, we are not sustainable!

And we need YOUR help to continue …

For the cost of less than a couple of cups of coffee you can help support local community news and continue to give our communities a voice by taking out a subscription for just £4 per month (that’s just a pound a week).

As a thanks you’ll get your name on a roll of honour on our website. More importantly you will be enabling us to keep bringing you the news that matters about your neighbourhood.

Achieving a bedrock of supporters will give us a firm financial footing and help us plan for the future.

Supporting us couldn’t be easier…

Just follow this link.

or set up a standing order with your bank:

Contact us on Paywestleedsdispatch@gmail.com if you’d like to do this.

Over to you …



LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.