Clock Face is a village and area of the town of St Helens,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, south of the town centre. It is a

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

within the

Metropolitan Borough of St Helens The Metropolitan Borough of St Helens is a local government district with borough status in Merseyside, North West England. The borough is named after its largest settlement, St Helens. It is one of the six boroughs of the Liverpool City Region ...

and forms part of the parish of Bold. Historically a part of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, the village and area is so named because of a large

clock face A clock face is the part of an analog clock (or watch) that displays time through the use of a flat dial (measurement), dial with reference marks, and revolving pointers turning on concentric shafts at the center, called hands. In its most basi ...

that adorned the Inn. The name was also adopted by a

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extra ...

in the area. The Clock Face

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

, although not the original building, is built close to the original location and maintains the naming tradition.

Sport

Clock Face is home to the amateur rugby league side Clock Face Miners, originally established in 1921 as 'Clock Face Rangers'. The club colours are yellow and blue.

Industry

The area was an important

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

village with three collieries in the vicinity, including Clock Face Colliery (which was closed in 1966), Sutton Manor Colliery (which was closed in 1991), and Parkside Colliery, which was closed in 1992, following a lengthy NUM-linked sit-in protest, as the last deep mine in the

Lancashire Coalfield The Lancashire Coalfield in North West England was an important British Coalfield#Great Britain, coalfield. Its coal seams were formed from the vegetation of tropical swampy forests in the Carboniferous period over 300 million years ago. The Rom ...

. Clock Face Country Park is situated on the site of one of the former collieries. In the late 1990s, the site was reclaimed by St Helens Council as a public open space. It contains developing woodlands, meadow areas and a fishing pond leased to a local angling club. The former mineral railway route has been reclaimed as a pathway to Sutton Manor Woodlands.

Transportation

Clock Face was once served by the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway at Clock Face station on Gartons Lane. The area is currently served by Lea Green railway station on the northern route of the Liverpool to Manchester Line. Arriva North West operate bus services in Clock Face, routes 32/32A, 30 and 33 link the area to St Helens Hospital and the Town Centre. Other bus companies serving the area include

Merseytravel Merseytravel is a public transport body and the passenger transport executive of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority responsible for delivering Public transport and other transport functions in the Liverpool City Region. It was origin ...

's 140 bus route and Halton Transport's 17/17B bus routes. Arriva have since taken over some 17 bus routes to Widnes as part of a scheme to boost travel between both Widnes and St Helens.

References

External links

Sutton Beauty
– A photographic appreciation of the Sutton district of St Helens which includes the Clock Face Country Park and Sutton Manor (Colliery) Woodlands St Helens, Merseyside Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens {{Merseyside-geo-stub