There are few places in Wales as synonymous with one landmark as Machynlleth, which has been a source of pride to the inhabitants of Machynlleth since the day it was erected, reports the Powys County Times.
image: for illustration Machynlleth Town Clock by Rude Health, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
… by 2002 the beloved landmark was crumbling…
Powys County Times writes:
The site of the clock was once the sear of the town hall.
In 1854 the town hall stood on pillars in the middle of a market place.
Writer George Borrow wrote of his visit to the town in a book called Wild Wales and an account of witnessing a large crowd standing below the building as the magistrates tried a poaching case…
… The clock was built by the residents of the town to celebrate the coming of age of the eldest son of the Fifth Marquess of Londonderry …
… Public subscriptions raised £1,000 to build the clock tower and plant trees along both sides of Pentrerhedyn and Maengwyn Streets.
The clock was designed by Henry Kennedy of Bangor and built by a local builder, Edward Edwards who used stone mined from Tremadog and red sandstone ferried from as afield as Mansfield…
However by 2002 the beloved landmark was crumbling and in desperate need of repair…
A final total of £200,000 ensured repairs on the clock began in 2009 and completed in 2011 and the return to past glories of one of mid Wales’ most beloved and iconic timepieces.
