The Albert Memorial Clock (AMC) commemorates Queen Victoria’s late Prince Consort, Prince Albert, who died in 1861.
The decision of the leading citizens of Belfast to erect a monument to Albert was considerably quicker than similar projects in other towns. For example, the AMC was erected two years before the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, Kensington, London.
However, as a result of being built on wooden piles on marshy, reclaimed land around the River Farset, the top of the tower leans four feet off the perpendicular. The lean started to appear in the 1880s and gave rise to the expression that the tower “has the time and the inclination.”
To halt the worsening lean and repair damage caused by the elements and heavy passing traffic, a multimillion-pound restoration project was completed in 2002.
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