Time called at last on Leith Walk's clock

Published on Saturday 22 December 2007 10:43

THE 111-year-old clock at the top of Leith Walk has finally been moved.

The clock and cast iron support – which has sat at the top of Leith Walk at the roundabout with London Road since 1959 – was meant to make way for the city's new 498 million tram line last month.

But the support proved difficult to budge and architectural conservation contractors Charles Laing and Sons were called in to do the job on Thursday.

Dating back to 1896, the clock was previously located in the West End, outside what is now Fraser's department store.

Since it was moved to the top of Leith Walk it has given countless travellers a time check on their way into the city centre.

The clock, built by Shotts Iron Company and local clockmaker James Ritchie's, will be refurbished and put back in the same area when the tram line is complete, though council chiefs have still to decide on its exact location.

The roundabout is to be replaced by a traffic-light controlled T-junction.