Time

This is a story about time. It features a host of Victorian eccentrics and leads a winding path from Chemistry Lock via Chester Station and Hilbre Island to the Trans-Altantic Cable.

Time and the Sun
People have used the sun to tell the time of day for millennia. At times with the day and night each divided into twelve hours. These hours were unequal, depending on the season. In medieval Europe, the Roman hours continued to be marked on sundials but the more important units of time were the canonical hours of the Orthodox and Catholic Church. During daylight, these followed the pattern set by the three-hour bells of the Roman markets, which were succeeded by the bells of local churches and monasteries. They rang prime at about 6 am, terce at about 9 am, sext at noon, nones at about 3 pm, and vespers at either 6 pm or sunset. Matins and lauds precede these irregularly in the morning hours; compline follows them irregularly before sleep; and the midnight office follows that. The Venerable Bede is reported to have instructed his followers in the art of telling time by interpreting their shadow lengths. However, Bede's important association with sundials is that he encouraged the use of canonical sundials to fix the times of prayers. Bede had a serious interest in time: his "On the Reckoning of Time" (De temporum ratione) included an introduction to the traditional ancient and medieval view of the cosmos, including an explanation of how the spherical earth (he knew it was not flat) influenced the changing length of daylight, of how the seasonal motion of the Sun and Moon influenced the changing appearance of the new moon at evening twilight. Bede also records the effect of the moon on tides. He shows that the twice-daily timing of tides is related to the Moon and that the lunar monthly cycle of spring and neap tides is also related to the Moon's position. He goes on to note that the times of tides vary along the same coast and that the water movements cause low tide at one place when there is high tide elsewhere. Since the focus of his book was the computus, Bede gave instructions for computing the date of Easter from the date of the Paschal full moon, for calculating the motion of the Sun and Moon through the zodiac, and for many other calculations related to the calendar. Bede's almost obsession with time and dates probably coloured his view of the reasons for the historical Battle of Chester - which he in part puts down to a disagreement over the date of Easter.

In higher latitudes the length of daylight in the summer and the winter months differ signifcantly and dawn or dusk form a poor basis for any systematic time. Noon is a far better choice, as it can always be taken as the middle of the day. Determining noon is simple, if the sun is visible, it is when the sun is highest in the sky above the horizon and the shadow of a suitably placed stick is shortest. In the northern hemisphere it is also when the shadow points true north. A sundial is effectievely a fixed stick (gnomon) which casts a shadow on a plate (dial) marked off in hours. The earliest sundials known from the archaeological record are shadow clocks (1500 BC or BCE) from ancient Egyptian astronomy and Babylonian astronomy. Presumably, humans were telling time from shadow-lengths at an even earlier date. The Roman writer Vitruvius (born 80-70 BC) lists dials and shadow clocks known at that time in his "De architectura" (c. 25 BC), so their were almost certainly sundials in Roman Chester.

It is self evident that with a small sundial the time can only be estimated roughly. For more accurate estimates the simplest solution is to build a larger sundial. The sundial shown in the image is the worlds largest stone sundial, accurate to 2 seconds. The "Vrihat Samrat Yantra", which means the "great king of instruments", is 88 feet (27 m) high; its shadow tells the time of day. Its face is angled at 27 degrees, the latitude of Jaipur, where it is located – so it points, as does any sundial at Polaris. The Hindu chhatri (small cupola) on top is used as a platform for announcing eclipses and the arrival of monsoons. The shadow moves the width of a human hand in a minute.

Chester has few notable sundials. St Mary on the Hill has a sundial probably dating to the 18th Century with a copper dial and a slightly damaged gnomon. However there is a little known connection between Chester and early time-keeping. The "navicula" was a medieval instrument used to estimate the time at sea and which was shaped like a little ship. The cursor (with a plumb line attached) was slid up/down the "mast" to the correct latitude. The user then sighted the sun through the pair of sighting holes at either end of the "ship's deck". The plumb line then marked what hour of the day it was. It is related to the sextant. One of the surviving manuscripts relating to the "navicula" has been linked to the Austin friary at Warrington and mentions Chester as a specific place. The document shows characteristic signs of Chester dialect and contains references to Chaucer's "Treatise on the Astrolabe". It is possible that Chester may have been a medieval center of mathematical knowledge given that it was the possible home of Robert of Chester who worked in the 12th Century and translated several important works from Arabic into Latin, including at least one work on mathematics. Chaucer (c. 1340s – 25 October 1400's) also based his work on Arabic technology.

Chester's "master clock" appears to have been that at St Peter by the High Cross. This is discussed in greater detail under Clockmakers. The actual agreement for the provision of clock is recorded in Chester "Assembley Order 492" of 1585:


 * "Whereas William Sampsoune clockmaker exhibiteth his bill to be free of this citie in consideracon to make a clock and orderly and substantial chymes in the Parish Church of St. Peter th'appostle within the said Cittie with a dyall streetwards there to dicerne the houres and tymes of the day upon his own charges (having found to him all carpenters' work, ropes, piece and iron) which being waied and considered it is news fully agreed upon by the said Maior etc. That the saide Sampson After that he shall have fully made the saide clock, chymes and dyall in sorte as before shall be enfranchised and made free gratis in consideracon thereof."

The church clock was at one time provided with "Jacks", animated wooden figures who rang the bell. These were paid for (1612) by Robert Amerye, a Chester ironmonger who is otherwise noted for putting on the play "Chester's Prince" in 1610. Accuracy to 15 minutes was pretty good going as few clocks could achieve this. Most church clocks at the time only had a single hour hand (one such clock still survives at St Lawrence, Stoak).

Knowing the time is essential for accurate navigation at sea, especially when out of sight of land. With a compass alone it is possible to determine direction and the maximum altitude of the sun can be used to determine how far north or south one has sailed - if the sun is directly overhead at its highest then the ship is on the equator. Determining the distance east or west is more complicated as this needs an accurate clock so that local noon time can be compared with time at "home". Unfortunately, early clocks did not work well at sea, as the bobbing of a ship would disturn the action of any pendulum and other escapements fared little better. Accurate naval clocks were first developed in the 18th century, and were a major technical achievement. They were largely the work on one man: John Harrison. Harrison's solution revolutionized navigation and greatly increased the safety of long-distance sea travel. The problem he solved was considered so important following the Scilly naval disaster of 1707 that the British Parliament offered financial rewards of up to £20,000 (equivalent to £3.17 million in 2020) under the 1714 Longitude Act. In 1730, Harrison presented his first design, and worked over many years on improved designs, making several advances in time-keeping technology, finally turning to what were called sea watches. Harrison gained support from the Longitude Board in building and testing his designs. Toward the end of his life, he received recognition and a reward from Parliament.

Time on a sundial and time on a watch are not the same. This is due to the fact that the earth does not orbit the sun in a perfect circle and the fact that the earth is tilted relative to its orbit around the sun.Apparent time, and the sundial, can be ahead (fast) of an accurate clock by as much as 16 min 33 s (around 3 November), or behind (slow) by as much as 14 min 6 s (around 11 February). The "equation of time" relates sundial time to watch time and has zeros near 15 April, 13 June, 1 September, and 25 December (when both agree), but even these vary due to leap years. So "local time" - usually the church clock as set by a sundial - might differ from place to place.

A measurement of the noon position of the sun might only be approximate and clock time can be up to about 15 minutes out as regards solar time. The photo of the Eastgate clock was taken at “noon” solar time (as a sundial would measure it). At major ports a more accurate measurement of “noon” was made using special "transit" telescopes to determine when the sun was due south at the port in question. Dr. Harold Whichello, an amateur astronomer from Tattenhall was still bemoaning the lack of accuracy of church clocks in 1900:


 * "In the country, especially if remote from the rail, it is always difficult to find the right time. In this village the church clock is always wrong. Having no transit instrument, I have often thought of setting up a sundial by which to correct my clocks once or twice a week."

Railway Time
With the coming of the railways the local time was at first widely used, and this was transmitted using various means over the local network, often with one pocketwatch being set off another. By the time the information reached a signalman there were all sorts of errors which could have added up – errors in reading, setting and maintaining an accurate time. To add to the confusion, local time varied from place to place. This is on top of the all the sources of error discussed above. Railway timetables advised how train departure and arrival times might vary from local times – by as much as over 15 minutes. Obviously, there are circumstances on a railway when you might want to ensure that two trains are not trying to use the same track at the same time.

Jones the Chemist


Chester was already failing as a port and before the railways arrived. Tanning is still a major industry in Chester, but there is a shortage of oak-bark to use in the process as Delamere forest has been over-worked. Alternative materials are explored and this leads to the constrution of a very noxious chemical works by the River Dee. This is eventually closed. Chemistry Lock on the Chester Canal took its name from the nearby chemical works (now long gone). This made materials for both leather production and ink manufacture, many of which were made from vegetable products got from oak. Robert Lewis Jones appears to have inherited the works from his father Thomas (he had a brother of the same name). Robert lived in Tarvin Road according to the census data and the tithe maps show his ownership and use of the site. He would eventually sell the business to Major and Turner – who later moved to Saltney. One of the processes which Jones used was the “dry distillation” of oak galls. This drives off various gasses which are collected and from which useful chemicals can be made. These include materials useful for tanning leather, making inks etc. Heating up wood to drive off inflammable vapours in a big vessel can be dangerous. The picture on the left shows the aftermath of a boiler explosion elsewhere, but we know that there were fires and even deaths at Chemistry Lock.

Jones may well have thought that working on the railway would be a safer option. The picture on the right shows this is not always the case – curiously, the train in question had recently passed Chemistry Lock and one of the drivers was named Jones!

Jones filed a patent on the work he had done at Chemistry Lock, but by the time the patent was granted he had already moved to a job with the railway.

Jones the Station Manager
Jones eventually became Station Manager at Chester Station – here shown with the original position of the station clock (more of the clock later). Robert Lewis Jones joined the railways at about the time of “Railway Mania” - when railway shares were at first thought of as a wonderful investment. You could buy shares for a deposit (of course the company might later come looking for the rest) and the value of the shares soared as company after company was formed and speculation went wild.

Then came the crash of share prices. Companies called in the debts left after the deposits and many went bust. The “Hunting of the Snark” (Lewis Carroll) even pokes fun at railway shares.

Railway competition now became cut-throat. A plan to build a railway from Birkenhead to Chester got into problems when the line on to Crewe went bust and was bought by a competitor. Another plan was to link Chester to Lancashire through a railway via Frodsham, but the smaller companies involved had problems raising cash in the aftermath of Railway Mania. Many of the smaller railways were being bought out by the “big few” for much less than the cost of their construction works and the value of their shares. In late 1850 a delayed route from Chester towards Warrington finaly opened.

A Day at the Races
One of the money-making options for the new “Chester Junction Railway” was to run special trains for the races at Chester. Jones, as Station Manager at Chester, was advised of this by the railway but they did little more than sent him a copy of a “flyer” advertising the trains and noting that the trains would return from Chester "as soon as filled-up". This was the first Cup Day after the railway had opened, so there was little experience of what that would mean at Chester station.

Trains leaving Chester were overloaded as thousands of race-goers tried to board – possibly after a few drinks and noting the failing weather. Many of the 3rd class were in open trucks. A pilot engine had to be used to get the trains on there way, and there was some attempt to keep a 15 min spacing between departures from Chester. By the time the trains reached Frodsham the timing had become chaotic and the heavier trains were running late and slipping on the rails.

Time-keeping
Jones may have been a versatile fellow but he was no clockmaker and it is likely that he was assisted by someone in developing his electrical clock system. One possible candidate is Thomas Moreland, a Chester clockmaker who also appears to have been involved with the early development of the railway in Chester (see: Railway Times: Volume 2). Moreland (who is described as "a character" in the Cheshire Sheaf) had a workshop near the station in Brook Street (according to Hemingway's "Poll Book") and is known to have made at least two clocks for the booking office at Chester Station. Moreland later moved to Northgate Street. Moreland's other clocks in Chester included that on the Market Hall and the clock on St John's Hospital. He also made the Christleton church clock.