Powys: Machynlleth town clock celebrates 150 years

Standing at 24 metres high, the town centre clock tower was built by the residents of Machynlleth to celebrate the coming of age of the eldest son of the Fifth Marquess of Londonderry, who lived at Y Plas.

Charles Stewart Vane-Tempest turned 21 on 16 July 1873, but family bereavement put paid to the planned celebrations.

A year later, on 16 July 1874, the clock tower’s foundation stone was laid amid general festivities.

Public subscriptions raised enough money to build the clock tower and plant trees along both sides of Pentrerhedyn and Maengwyn Streets.

Clock tower, Machynlleth in 1885. Picture: John Thomas Collection.

A competition to design the clock tower attracted around 40 entries and the winner was Irish-born architect Henry Kennedy, of Bangor.

His design was built by Edward Edwards, a local builder. It was made mostly of stone from Tremadog, near Porthmadog, complemented by red sandstone from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.

In 1881 a storm shattered two of the clock’s faces and stopped the mechanism and local residents donated money for repairs.

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The clock tower became a meeting point for temperance campaigners while hundreds of people gathered here in 1907 to greet General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, who paused for five minutes while on his way to Aberystwyth.

Machynlleth held a carnival to celebrate peace on a Saturday in July 1919.

At the town clock, a laurel wreath and floral tributes were displayed in memory of the people who died in the First World War.

On the following day, an open-air memorial service was held at the clock. Local clergy addressed the crowd, and the town's brass band played sombre music.