A COLONIAL clock tower shipped from Huddersfield to India in the 19th century has gone up in flames.
The blaze began in a sari shop underneath the clock tower at New Market – a busy shopping complex in Kolkata, formerly Calcutta.
It is not yet known the extent of the damage which happened on Wednesday.
Rohit Shaw, who owns a spice shop, told the Telegraph in Calcutta: “The electric wiring is primitive. If there is a spark in one shop, it can easily spread to the rest of the market.”
In 1871 the British colonials called for a shopping district apart from the local bazaars.
The Calcutta Corporation purchased Lindsay Street and The East India Railway Company executed the designs by architect R Bayne.
The Gothic market complex was created in 1873.
The market houses up-market shops such as Rankin and Company dressmakers, and Cuthbertson and Harper shoe-merchants.
The market was named the Sir Stuart Hogg Market and opened in 1874.
Sir Stuart was the chairman of the Justices of Peace in Calcutta from 1866 to 1876, chairman of the newly-formed Calcutta Corporation and the commissioner of the police.
According to the Telegraph in Calcutta, the clock tower on the eastern end of the market was at this time shipped over from Huddersfield.
