The tower clock

It is about time that I lived up to my alias again so here is a clock mechanism. The clock on the church tower is now a simple synchronous motor that drives the hands but this is the previous one which probably dates from the 19th century. It is an impressive movement with rack striking (please don't ask me explain what that is unless you want a boring lecture!). These mechanical clocks would have been powered by large weights, often stones, and would usually have run for either 30 hours or eight days. I wound an eight day mechanism once, one of the few local survivors. The winding handle was more than a metre long and it took about five minutes to complete the job, by which time I was ready for a rest. Electrification was not simply a question of improved technology but also reflected the increasing difficulty in finding someone prepared to climb the tower daily or weekly to wind the clock.