IT was the largest four-faced clock in the world, sitting in one of the world’s largest factories. And it’s all gone.
We imagine shipyards when we think of Clydebank, but the impact of the Singer sewing machine factory should not be overlooked. The American company wanted to expand into Europe in the 1860s, and a small factory was set up in Glasgow. But as demand soared their plans expanded and fields on the outskirts of Clydebank were bought as there was a highly-skilled and lowly-paid workforce on the doorstep.
It was enormous. From its opening in 1884 until 1943, the Clydebank fatcory made 36m sewing machines, exported to every corner of the world.
The clock tower, with its 12-foot long hands, could be seen for miles, and everyone in Clydebank set their watches by it.
But by the sixties, families were more likely to buy new clothes rather than make them, and sewing machine purchases declined. The clock tower was demolished in 1963 - no one knows what happened to the machinery - and the factory itself closed in 1980, before being demolished bit by bit over the next 18 years.
Clydebank lost thousands of jobs, and an iconic landmark.
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