Two clocks.

The Haven Bridge clock.

The Haven Bridge clock was fitted by Managing Director Mr. J.V. Aaron in 1975, on the then premises of Boston Divers Ltd.

Originally buying and planning to put up the old Willer and Riley clock he found out it would take up too much space so in the end settled for the electric one pictured above. Mr. Aaron, said at the time that four clocks had been taken down or stopped working in recent years and as his office was in a busy area he thought a clock would be useful to motorists going over the bridge.

Willer and Riley's clock.

At the West Street end of Queen Street, where Aldi's supermarket now stands, stood the old Willer and Riley factory and in the apex of the gable facing toward the street was a circular opening that graced a clock. The clock was removed by Boston Corporation in about 1974 and placed into their Broadfield Street depot for storage and was purchased by Mr. Aaron as stated above. Since he could not use the clock it was sold to Bert Fleet (then Chairman of Directors at Fogarty's) whose stated intention was to erect a small tower within the entrance of Fogarty's Havenside works and install the clock therein. Unfortunately Mr. Fleet died before this was accomplished and Mr. Aaron had no idea what happened to the clock.    Does anyone know where it went?..............

Swan House

This building has been converted into flats, but it was originally built for the processing of feathers for pillow cases. Geese had been kept on the local fens for centuries, and their feathers were plucked twice a year and purified by heat in factories like this before being used to stuff the pillows of the rich.

The first feather factory on this site burned down (see below) and this building was put up in its place in 1877.

It was built by F. S. Anderson & Co., and very unusually for Victorian times this company was named after a woman. The Anderson family had been in the feather business for many years and by the time the factory was rebuilt the widowed Mrs Frances Susannah Anderson had succeeded her husband as head of the firm. In the picture below the swan has been taken down, I don’t know the reason why but it could have been just for cleaning or perhaps during World War Two for safety from bombing. The feather factory continued in use until the middle of the 20th century and was latterly run by Fogarty & Co.