The Ivanhoe Clock in Leeds, England
At one end of Thornton’s Arcade, beneath its elegant glass roof, four Victorian characters wait for their cue. When the clock strikes, Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, Richard the Lionheart, and Gurth the Swineherd spring into action, raising their fists to strike a bell. It is a wonderfully theatrical way to tell the time—and an unexpected spectacle in the middle of a shopping arcade. Installed in 1877, the clock was made by Leeds clockmakers William Potts & Sons, while the life-sized figures were created by local sculptor John Wormald Appleyard. Their subjects come from Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe, the hugely popular 1819 novel that turned medieval England into a world of knights, outlaws, monks, and swineherds. Richard the Lionheart and Friar Tuck strike the hours, while Robin Hood and Gurth mark the quarters. Five bells, supplied by John Taylor of Loughborough, provide the soundtrack. The figures are technically faux jacquemarts: moving clockwork figures that appear to strike a bell, although the real bells are operated inside the mechanism. Whatever the technical distinction, watching four life-sized medieval characters punch the air to mark the time is considerably more entertaining than checking your phone. Thornton’s Arcade opened in May 1878 as Leeds’s first purpose-built shopping arcade. Today, its ornate architecture, independent shops, and eccentric clock offer a charming reminder that Victorian shopping could come with considerably more spectacle than window displays.
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