Clock Tower Archives - IpohWorld's World

“..the way we were…”

By felicia|2010-04-07T02:17:43+08:00April 7th, 2010|Categories: Identify Photographs, ipoh, Ipoh Town, Memories, Natural Heritage|Tags: Clock Tower, labrooy house, municipal car park, straits trading building|

Here’s a section of Ipoh Old Town, said to be taken from the top of the state mosque’s minaret. In the background (left) is the Ipoh Padang and a row of giant common ru. Further back, are the limestone hills – something Ipoh has always been noted for!

This was what the area used to look like, back in the early 1970s. Of course now, things have changed a bit – for better or worse, depends on personal opinion I suppose. But, from what we’ve discovered lately……the Birch Clock Tower has been painted pink!

Has anything else been ‘altered’ dramatically in this area?

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How Well Do You Know Ipoh?

By felicia|2010-01-07T13:44:19+08:00January 7th, 2010|Categories: Identify Photographs, ipoh, Ipoh Town|Tags: Belfield Street, Clock Tower, mosque, Panglima Road|

This postcard shows an aerial view of Ipoh Old Town. We think the road meeting at the cross-junction are Jalan Panglima and Belfield Street. Among some of the famous landmarks which can be seen are the Birch Clock Tower, the Perak State Mosque, the Chung Thye Phin building, the Straits Trading Building and the Dramatist’s Hostel.

Think you can identify more? Do let us know!

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Perak’s Own Leaning Tower

By admin|2009-10-07T06:21:45+08:00October 7th, 2009|Categories: Memories|Tags: Bidor, Clock Tower, duck soup, Food, Leaning Tower, teluk anson|

This photograph taken in 1920 shows little sign of the famous Teluk Anson (now Teluk Intan) tower actually leaning, but if you go there yourself I can assure you it leans!

Manufactured from bricks and wood and standing at 25.5 metres tall, its Pagoda-style construction gives the tower an appearance of having 8 different levels (like Pisa). However, the building is actually divided only into 3 storeys each 16½ feet high, connected by 110 stairs. Above the third storey stands the water tank (for it was actually a water tower for the surrounding population) 16 feet deep and with a surface area of 680 square feet. All 8 levels have a 6 feet wide balcony and a decorative 2 feet high marble wall surrounding the main structure. Roofing tiles complete the picture. One amusing fact, taken from the very limited history available is that the side balconies were designed “to ensure the safety of the tower’s caretaker from rainstorm”. There is still a regular caretaker of the tower today and one of his duties is to wind the old clock that was originally ordered from London and still keeps good time while chiming every 15 minutes. Again the records claim “the hourly ringing of the Tower’s clock could be heard up to 8 miles away, but now the chimes could be heard as far as one to half a mile in radius due to the modernization of buildings and all means of transportations”. Today I doubt that it can be heard much further than the town center.

Over the years the tower has been a Japanese observation post and a Boy Scout Headquarters amongst other roles, but in 1997 the council decided that the tower should remain a landmark for the town’s tourism and constructed the new town square around it. Not long ago it was subjected to careful internal restoration.

P.S. The World’s Best Duck Soup is at Bidor

Next time you are going to Pangkor, Lumut or even Penang (if you are coming from the South), why not take that detour off the highway at Bidor and enjoy Malaysia’s own leaning tower and while in Bidor, just stop at Pun Chun, the first large Chinese restaurant on the right past the traffic lights and enjoy the best duck noodle soup in the country. They have been serving it for more than 3 generations and you will love it.

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The E W Birch Memorial – a Point of Confusion

By ika|2009-09-19T01:40:21+08:00September 19th, 2009|Categories: Ipoh Town, Memories, Uncategorized|Tags: Birch, Clock Tower, fountain, heritage, Ipoh Town|

At one time Ipoh sported two Birch Memorials, the clock tower in memory of J W W Birch and this beautiful marble fountain in Belfield Street to honour his son E W Birch. These memorials always seem to cause confusion as today only the clock tower remains and more than one tourism site has misled its readers in the past by talking about the “Birch Fountain”, over a picture of the clock tower.

So this post is intended to set the matter straight. The clock tower was erected in 1909 in memory of J W W Birch, the first British Resident of Perak under the Pangkor Treaty of 1874. He was assassinated by the Malays in 1875 and the moving force for the erection of the towere was his son E W Birch who was the 8th British Resident from 1904 to 1910. It is still with us today although as an earlier post shows the area in which it stands is not always treated well.

The photograph above shows the Birch Fountain. This all-marble fountain at the southern end of Belfield Street, was erected by the Ipoh Chinese business community, in honour of E W Birch (later, Sir Ernest Woodford Birch KCMG CMG) who (unlike his father) was a popular administrator that worked closely with the local people, particularly Yau Tet Shin, the original developer of Ipoh New Town.

Sadly, in the name of development, it was demolished by the local council and was replaced by a new fountain of a much lesser qualty and style. That is Ipoh’s loss.

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In Search of that Different Heritage Photo

By ika|2010-06-09T04:19:44+08:00August 13th, 2009|Categories: Ipoh Town|Tags: Birch, Clock Tower, heritage, Ipoh Town, Old Town, UNESCO|

Most tourists that traverse Old Town make a point of photographing the Birch Memorial Clock Tower, just as this photographer has done in the past. But searching for a different view this time he came across this little side-lane and this is what he got to take home to remind him of Ipoh.

What a pity that Ipoh, once lauded as the cleanest town in Malaya, no longer seems to maintain the buildings, pavements and lanes.

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1960’s Aerial View of Old Town, A Green and Pleasant Place

By ika|2009-07-22T04:51:15+08:00July 17th, 2009|Categories: Ipoh Town|Tags: Birch, Clock Tower, heritage, Ipoh Town|

This divided back, unused, card from Airfoto is centred on the Perak State Mosque with the Railway Station clearly visible between it and the limestone hills which form the backdrop against a brilliant blue sky.

The amazing thing about this picture is just what a beautiful and green city Ipoh was in the 1960’s. In every direction from the mosque there can be seen grassy spaces and an abundance of trees. Take for example the Birch Memorial Clock tower just to the right of the mosque. It stands surrounded by nature’s greenery, open to view and a magnificent memorial to the first British Resident of Perak who was murdered by the Malays. Whatever your politics or your opinion of J W W Birch there is no doubt that this environment was far superior to today’s, hemmed in as the clock tower is by a scruffy food centre that replaced the trees (behind which the old Post Office nestled) and surrounded by hard landscaping and litter rather than well tended grass.

But not only the clock tower’s environment has worsened but a comparison against today’s Ipoh also demonstrates that there has been a general decline in the environment across the City. How on earth did we, the citizens of Ipoh allow this?

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April 2010

“..the way we were…”

January 2010

How Well Do You Know Ipoh?

October 2009

Perak’s Own Leaning Tower

September 2009

The E W Birch Memorial – a Point of Confusion

August 2009

In Search of that Different Heritage Photo

July 2009

1960’s Aerial View of Old Town, A Green and Pleasant Place