Notes and queries: Inscription on the tower

What are the words on the clock tower in Preston Park?  A nice pic of it too, please!! Lovely site, lots of nostalgia. I moved away from Brighton when I became pregnant, somewhat reluctantly, after having our car broken into three times, and then stolen, vandalised and returned, all in the space of 6 weeks! Apart from the dramatic conclusion, Brighton brings back plenty of happy memories, and your site has helped bring them to mind.  Best wishes, Mandie

Response
From Bob, My Brighton and Hove volunteer, 4 March 2001

“The tower bears the following inscription: ‘Here I stand with all my might to tell the hour by day and night. Therefore example take by me and serve thy God as I serve thee’.

Funded by a bequest
Preston Park was funded by a bequest from a local bookmaker, William Edmund Davies, who left £70,000 in 1883 in order to pay back some of the money he’d taken off local punters at Brighton Racecourse.  The clock tower was put into the park about 10 years after it opened. It commands a view from its position in the centre of the park’s eastern upper slopes. It could easily be seen after entering any of the park’s four main gates, and terminates several vistas across the park.The tower was originally enclosed with low fencing and shrubbery.

Designed by Francis May
Designed by Lockwood’s successor as Borough Surveyor, Francis May, the brick and terra-cotta tower was the gift of Mr Edward White JP of “BeachIey’, Preston Road, to his fellow townsmen. The foundation stone was laid by Mr White on 13 August 1891.On completion of the tower on the 17th June 1892, Mr White publicly handed the key to the Mayor, the late Alderman Joseph Ewart, MD, by whom the tower and clock were declared to be forever dedicated to the use of the public.

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