An historic clock tower in Greenock is to be restored to its former glory.
Often described as Scotland’s most elaborate harbour light, the Customhouse Quay clock tower is situated on the dockside outside the former Customs House.
It will soon undergo extensive work to sympathetically restore the pedestal, column clock, bell, light and finial and will also receive decorative paint treatments.
Councillor Michael McCormick, convener of environment and regeneration, said: “This is a landmark in Greenock and is much loved by locals and visitors alike.
“This area at the waterfront is popular with walkers and visitors and I am delighted the clock is to be restored.
READ MORE: Bid for permanent Mackintosh gable end mural in area he grew up in
“This represents another key component in the council’s re-development of the Greenock Waterfront.”
The much-admired public clock was built in 1860 and is Category B listed. It was designed by William Clark and made for Greenock Harbour Trust.
It stands outside the Customs House, which was built in 1818 on what was then known as Steamboat Quay, one of the first docking areas of Greenock.
It was built from designs by William Burns of Edinburgh at a cost of £30,000. Situated to face the river it reflects the wealth and importance of the port at that time.
The clock tower and public drinking fountain were added around 1860. The town’s motto ‘God Speed Greenock’ appears above the lion’s head on the side of the fountain.
Restoration of the clock tower will cost approximately £110,000 and will take around 8-10 weeks to complete, Inverclyde Council said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here