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| Coimbatore clock tower, Bazaar area. commons.wikimedia.org |
In the 1950s preponderance of towns, both big and small in Madras presidency (now Tamil Nadu) had free-standing Manikoondu- clock tower in a prominent place to help the common men know the time of the day. Most of them were not tall with some exceptions. The one at Thanjavur city ''Ranee's Clock tower''(a 8-story structure;1833) on Gandhiji road built by the Maratha queen during the colonial day is a tall one. Recently, as part of smart city project, it was renovated and now is back to old glory. The other tall free-standing clock tower is in the Gandhi market area of Trichy (WWII memorial). A few towns in those days had more than two clock towers at different locations.
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| Coimbatore clock tower, Bazaar area. wikimapia.org/ |
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| Coimbatore clock tower, Bazaar area. wikimapia.org/ |
The industrial city of Coimbatore (often called Self-made industrial city) has three clock towers and the clock tower or ‘Manikoondu,’ at the junction of Big Bazaar and Raja Street of Coimbatore happens to be one of the oldest one, the other two being at the T.N.A.U and the Forest College campuses.
The Manikoondu in the bazaar area came up in 1877 years ago and was built to honor former Municipal Chairman Rao Bahadur A.T.Thiruvengadaswamy Mudaliar (1855-1923). He was a successful business man , had a Sugar mill at Podanur and was a prominent contractor. Thanks to his illustrious sons who donated the clock tower and dedicated it to the town along with a reading room nearby for the public. As it happened to be a bazaar area it was beneficial to the working class as in those days pocket and wrist watches were expensive and far beyond the reach of the lower middle class people. It was fitted with an imported clock from London. It is a simple European styled design with Indian features.
Now part of heritage of this industrial city, heritage, the tower was given a new lease of life by way of repair and restoration in the recent past. It was carefully done by the Coimbatore Chapter of INTACH under Convener Mrs. Kalaivani Chengappa.
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