Time Ball Buildings, Leeds is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

building in

Briggate, Leeds Briggate is a pedestrianised principal shopping street in Leeds city centre, England. Historically it was the main street, leading north from Leeds Bridge, and housed markets, merchant's houses and other business premises. It contains many hi ...

History

The building dates from the early 19th century and was used by a variety of businesses, acting as a distillery, saddlery, barber and perfumier and stationer. By 1869 the premises were uninhabited. By 1872 a watchmaker by the name of John Dyson occupied No. 26. By 1890 he occupied No.s 24 and 25 as well. The elaborately decorated front dates over numbers 25 and 26 dates from 1872 and over 26 from 1900. The distinctive features of the building are the gilded time ball, and the cantilevered clock, surmounted by a figure of

Father Time Father Time is a personification of time. In recent centuries he is usually depicted as an elderly bearded man, sometimes with wings, dressed in a robe and carrying a scythe and an hourglass or other timekeeping device. As an image, "Father ...

carved by

John Wormald Appleyard John Wormald Appleyard (10 September 1831 – 14 January 1894) (active 1851–1893) was a British sculptor and monumental mason based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. He was sixteen years old when his apprenticeship as a stone carver was cur ...

. A second clock by

Potts of Leeds Potts of Leeds was a major British manufacturer of public clocks, based in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. History William Potts was born in December 1809 and was apprenticed to Samuel Thompson, a Darlington clockmaker. In 1833, at the age of 24, ...

was installed in 1910. The gilded time ball mechanism had a connection to the time equipment at Greenwich and the time ball dropped at exactly 1pm each day. The building was restored in 1993.

References

{{Listed buildings in Leeds

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...