About time too!

Recently I visited the NT property, Nostell Priory, which is located about forty minutes from where I live.

I'm familiar with the house and grounds, but on this visit there was a rather surprising exhibition to see.  It was based on John Harrison, the man of longitude fame. I was surprised to find out the Harrison had been born on the Nostell Priory estate at Foulby. I had no idea he was a 'local' man.

Clocks and time pieces in their hundreds had been donated and the resulting display in one of the rooms was little short of spectacular.

Every conceivable clock ancient and modern was there, wall clocks, children's clocks, chiming clocks, mantelpiece clocks, alarms, travel clocks. I'm sure you get the picture.

There were long case clocks and even clocks laid out on the stairs.
Eventually we went to see Harrison's Long Case Clock which is over three hundred years old.


This clock will soon come to the end of its life. There is a debate whether it should be allowed to stop, to replace the necessary mechanism with modern counterparts, or to make a modern copy.

You could fill in a post card with your thoughts.  There were many varied views and ideas to read.

John Harrison is particularity famous for solving the problem of longitude and helping the navy, who used only latitude and lost many ships.  He should have been awarded a prize of £20,000,00 but it was never given to him.


2 comments:

  1. Looks like a fascinating collection of clocks - but I confess I had never heard of John Harrison.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I hadn't until some years ago when I read the book 'Longitude' By Dava Sobel, a fascinating read. However if you watched 'Only Fools and Horses' - the episode where they find a watch and sell it for a million pounds - that was a Harrison timepiece!

    ReplyDelete

Meet Paul Smith

I 'm delighted to introduce the multi-talented Paul Smith to you.  Many Yorkshire writers (born or living here) are now familiar w...