Potts Clocks

On a wet and windy day what do you do?

Spend the afternoon at the Leeds Industrial Museum.
Never been before, and found it fascinating.
Started with a tour explaining the process from raw wool to producing the finest cloth in the world.
( still made by Hainsworths, in Leeds, but that is another story)

The special exhibition ( which is on until the 28th September 2014) brings together examples spanning the history of Potts of Leeds.
The photo above is of the Brandesburton Stable Clock made in 1884, and now in the Potts family's private collection of clocks, on view to the public for the first time.

From a small boy apprenticed to a Darlington clockmaker, Joseph Potts age 24, moved to Pudsey, near Leeds, to set up his own business.
Supplying clocks all over England, and as far afield as Australia, where they made the clock for the Roman Catholic Church Hall in Melbourne.

Joseph Potts was presented to Queen Victoria in 1897 after viewing the newly installed Potts clock at Holy Trinity Church in Windsor.
Having expressed her " admiration of the clock", a Royal Warrant followed in 1901, making Potts the last clockmaker to be awarded the title before Queen Victoria's death.

Also in the museum there is a 1920's cinema, one of the smallest in the world.
A tailoring Gallery.
Many of the products that made Leeds famous and the machinery that was made here too.

It is surprising what is on your doorstep!