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Mark’s History: Upper Wortley Police Station and the Potts clock

Many of you will have passed this building without realising it used to be a police station. In the latest ‘Mark’s History’ column, MARK STEVENSON casts his photographic lens on Upper Wortley Police Station and its historic clock…

The Upper Wortley Police Station was built in 1899 to replace the earlier police station that was on the same site.

Upper wortley police station architecture
Have you looked closely at the building’s lovely architecture? Photo: Mark Stevenson

On the 31 March 1935 it became the headquarters of ‘D’ Division which had been transferred from the Kirkstall Road Police Station. The RSPCA took over the Kirkstall Road building.

The building itself is mainly of red brick and has some nice architectural details including a turret, a Leeds coat of arms, a pair of owls and a Potts clock.

upper wortley police station clock
Upper Wortley Police Station clock was installed by Wm Potts & Sons of Leeds. Photo: MARK STEVENSON

The clock was installed by Wm Potts & Sons of Leeds in 1898. The weights of the clock hung through the first floor to the ground floor, the holes being used by the Inspector to overhear the conversations in the office below.

police station
This former Upper Wortley Police Station dates back to 1899. Photo: Mark Stevenson

Wortley Police Station closed in 1978 when the new headquarters opened at Dawson’s Corner in Pudsey.

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