A RECENT enquiry was passed on to me and I was pleased to find that Everyman Cinemas from London NW3 are taking an interest in the history of building they have taken over – the former Market Hall/Crown Hotel and latterly the Steamer Trading Company.

The Town Clock was the main interest and I passed on my opinion (I hope I am correct) that this is the responsibility of the town council and not the owners of the building.

The clock was stuck at 10.40 for a long time during the alterations but now has been moved on to 12 o’clock.

I could do no better than to refer the enquirer to an extensive article by Tony Shannon that showed up in Volume Four of the Marlow Society’s ‘Marlow Historian’.

Briefly, for this column, the clock was a gift from local M.P. Pascoe Grenfell (top left) in 1805, to coincide with the construction of the Market Hall, the latter being paid for by Thomas Williams from Temple Mills.

The original hefty mechanism had to be taken up in pieces due to the limited access to roof level. It is pictured top centre with the illuminated clock face behind.

Up to 1994 the clock was driven by substantial weights that disappeared via pulleys down a shaft some distance away. The “Clock Minder” was Bob Farey from the clock and watch shop almost opposite and his assistant “Tick” Allard. At this date the winding gearing failed with major damage.

I once read a book relating to considerably worse damage caused to Big Ben about the same time when its huge weights crashed downwards.

An electric winding system for the weights was tried out at the Crown but this proved to be a disaster, and a complete new electric clock and striking mechanism was installed early in this millennium. I hope all this is still in working order and will soon be returned to action.

The bell that strikes the hours is not easily visible from the street. Dated 1805 it is pictured lower centre. A long time ago the top and slightly smaller bell used to summon the fire brigade via a rope stretching down to ground level.

I have also included a close-up of the weather vane: the bird is a Chough, the crest of the Williams family and also can be seen on the balcony rail inside the Assembly Room, which I assume is gong to be a part of the new cinema.

Finally, it has been a few years since I have been up to the clock room – it is a difficult climb, but I am hoping that the inscribed slate wall panels will remain in there. They are a big part of Marlow history.

One of these panels is the last picture. Originally this was just signatures of clock winders over the years but developed into one from everybody who made their way up that scary ladder, and the dates cover more than a Century. The original clock mechanism was rebuilt and restored about a decade ago and I think is still within the building.

Contact Michael at michael@jazzfans.co or 01628 486571.