Runaway Landau Horse Crashes into Clock Tower
Source: Skegness Standard 28th July 1954
Terrifying Experience for Elderly Lady
A 78 year old Chesterfield woman, visiting Skegness on a day trip on Sunday had a terrifying ordeal when she was the sole occupant of a runaway horse-drawn landau. The animal’s wild gallop along Tower Esplanade was halted when it crashed head-on into the Clock Tower.
She was Mrs Agnes Elizabeth Kitchener of 5 Ashfield Road Hasland Chesterfield.
The horse, Brownie, was in the shafts of a landau owned and driven by Mr Vincent Sandaver of 10 Wainfleet Road Skegness. It had just returned from taking Mrs Kitchener, her husband and others on a tour around Skegness.
It arrived back at Tower Esplanade about 4.30pm, and when all the passengers except Mrs Kitchener had alighted, the horse, for some reason, suddenly bolted in the direction of Lumley Avenue.
Mrs Kitchener had been in the act of alighting, and the sudden movement of the landau threw her back into her seat.
There were large crowds of holidaymakers in the vicinity of the Clock Tower.
Toreador Act
Many of them waved frantically in an attempt to distract the horse’s attention from its wild career, and when someone waved a raincoat in a toreador-like action, the horse veered directly towards the Clock Tower, running at speed head-on into the structure and coming to a full stop with its head cut.
Mr Percy Shaw, Skegness’ Assistant Foreshore Director, looked after the badly shaken Mrs Kitchener until an ambulance arrived to take her to the hospital for the night.
The horse hit the door of the Clock Tower chamber, which houses the clock-winding mechanism and gear for switching on the Clock Tower illuminations.
end of transcript
The photo below shows the door of the Clock Tower, which the horse crashed into, bearing in mind that the island around the Clock Tower was not built until 1958.
The horse modelling in the picture is Bruno, the presesent day Landau horse.
Leave a Reply