Fascinating Facts

[cantaloup63]

I've been reading a book , about England in the 14th century. ZZZZZZZZ I know, but one curiousity that you may be interested in is that back in them days, before clocks were available, they used to measure the day by dividing the period between sunrise and sunset into 12 hours. Thus an hour in the summer would be longer than an hour in the winter. They also used to estimate the time of the day by looking at the position of the sun as it traversed the sky.

Now, eventually, clock towers began to be built in towns and therefore to delineate between the solar time and the clock time, one would refer to the latter as being the time "of the clock", or rather it's abbreviated "o'clock" .

Well I found it interesting anyway

 

[thatbloke]

vjuds

 

[cantaloup63]

Makes sense.
Although I doubt many could tell the time.

They tended to use bells so that people could hear what time it was. Sorry, should have mentioned it

However, what makes it even more interesting is that different areas (sometimes withn bigger towns and cities such as london) would have completely different times since for a long time nobody checked to see if these clocks were synchronised So you could go for a walk at two o'clock for an hour or so and become out of earshot of the last bell and get to the next bell to discover that it was two o'clock

 

[wotan]

Those were the good old days, when people were not ruled by the clock.
eat when you feel hungry, sleep when you feel tired, had a lot going for it.

Wotan

 

[Mw Roofline]

Well I found it interesting anyway

Be a nightmare at the train station though

 

[RedHerring2]

............
However, what makes it even more interesting is that different areas (sometimes withn bigger towns and cities such as london) would have completely different times since for a long time nobody checked to see if these clocks were synchronised So you could go for a walk at two o'clock for an hour or so and become out of earshot of the last bell and get to the next bell to discover that it was two o'clock

Isn't that why, even today, when you have two, or more clock towers in close proximity, a) they have different chimes and b) they strike several minutes apart.
It avoids confusion. For instance, suppose they chimed together, or worse still, immediately after each other.

 

[cantaloup63]

Isn't that why, even today, when you have two, or more clock towers in close proximity, a) they have different chimes and b) they strike several minutes apart.
It avoids confusion. For instance, suppose they chimed together, or worse still, immediately after each other.

Now there's a point

 

[joe-90]

It was only when the railways came along in Victorian times that the clocks were synchronised so they could run a railway to 'railway time'.

 

[cantaloup63]

It was only when the railways came along in Victorian times that the clocks were synchronised so they could run a railway to 'railway time'.

Yeah, I saw that episode of "What the Victorian's did for us" too

Sidetrack: Whatever happened to Adam Hartley Davies or whatever his name was? Quite charismatic.

 

[expertgasman]

It was only when the railways came along in Victorian times that the clocks were synchronised so they could run a railway to 'railway time'.

Good God, an actual true post from JOE 90! Wonders will never cease. I was going to make the same point.

 

[joe-90]

Sidetrack: Whatever happened to Adam Hartley Davies or whatever his name was? Quite charismatic.

I bet he got a flippin' puncture.

 

[cantaloup63]

Sidetrack: Whatever happened to Adam Hartley Davies or whatever his name was? Quite charismatic.

I bet he got a flippin' puncture.

Took me a while to "get it", but I got there

 

[Paul_C]

It was only when the railways came along in Victorian times that the clocks were synchronised so they could run a railway to 'railway time'.

The railways in Britain started doing that around the 1840's-1850's, with communities adopting "railway time" for general use for convenience, but it was only around 1880 that GMT was adopted as "official" time across the country for all legal purposes, resulting in the last few places which were still holding out with local time to make the switch.

It was also around that same time that the system of time zones we know today based on one-hour increments for each 15 degrees of longitude around the globe was adopted. Although even today there are a few places which don't adhere completely to that plan and use "odd" quarter-hour or half-hour zones. Australia's Central time zone is one such, being 9½ hours ahead of GMT instead of the 9 which it would be if following the standard time-zone system.

Then there's the whole issue of Daylight Saving Time, British Summer Time, and the other various names by which it's known in different parts of the world, just to complicate matters further.

 

[JohnD]

The French use Berlin time

 

[cantaloup63]

It was also around that same time that the system of time zones we know today based on one-hour increments for each 15 degrees of longitude around the globe was adopted.

Without being certain, it is easy to imagine that befroe this era there was no real need for a longitudinal system to have beeen in place since it wasn't until John Harrison managed to design and build accurate, seaworthy and portable clocks that these lines could successfully be used for navigation.

In case you're wondering where you've heard his name, a Harrison watch was the subject of the £million+ auction in Only Fools and Horses , or if you want a pleasant and shortish biography then search Amazon for the book "Longitude"