An 1874 Cambrian News article has revealed the true birth year of the Machynlleth clocktower.
The date came under controversy as 2023 came and went without celebration, which some suggest should have been the 150th anniversary of the tower's construction.
The Victorian tower bears a plaque stating ‘this tower was erected by the inhabitants of the town and district of Machynlleth to commemorate the coming-of-age on the 15th day of July, 1873, of Viscount Castlereagh, of Plas-Machynlleth, son of the 5th Marquis of Londonderry’.
Machynlleth Town Mayor Jeremy Paige however wrote to the News stating, “I have established without any doubt that the clocktower was built in 1874”, due to a delay because of a bereavement in the Londonderry family.
A Cambrian News article from 24 July 1874 states: “The picturesque little town of Machynlleth was quite alive on Tuesday afternoon, July 15th, when Viscount Castlereagh laid the foundation stone of a clock tower which is to be erected in commemoration of his attaining his majority.
“That event took place in July last year, when it was suggested that some permanent monument of a useful and ornamental character should be erected in the town of Machynlleth.”
It then states the tone of celebrations would be dialled down “owing to a deep family sorrow”.
A descendant of the clocktower builders, Councillor Gareth Jones, previously argued the clocktower's birthday must have been 1873 due to the Viscount's coming-of-age.
He added that the 100-year celebrations were in 1983 as recorded in a BBC radio series, an election of a ‘Town Clock Centenary Queen’ and in his own late mother's centenary booklet of poems.
He added: “If it was good enough for the people of Machynlleth in 1973 then it’s good enough for me.”
Mayor Paige is to organise 150th celebrations for the clocktower, using the Mayor’s Fund for a ‘Victorian-themed day’ where he hopes to involve locals in dress-up and themed shop fronts on 13 July.
The Mayor said: “A Machynlleth historian is pretty sure it was built in 1874.
“It’d be good to have a celebration about the clock itself and have it as a town-wide thing.”