St Magnus the Martyr - Lower Thames Street, London, UK
N 51° 30.566 W 000° 05.180
30U E 702184 N 5710503
The clock hangs from the west side of the tower of St Magnus the Martyr church. It hangs over the churchyard and can be seen by people descending Fish Street Hill from The Monument.
Waymark Code: WMDERZ
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/05/2012
Views: 7
The clock hangs over the churchyard that can be accessed
from Lower Thames Street. It has two faces: one facing north that can be seen by
anyone descending Fish Street Hill and the other facing south.
The clock has an ornate wooden case and has similar faces on each side. The case
is black and has some edging and other work picked out in gold. At the bottom of
the clock is the year 1709.
The clock face is black with a decorated, gold coloured ring around the outside.
The minute hands are generally single gold marks with the five minute marks
being gold, triangular shapes. The hour marks sit within the minute marks and
are also gold and are traditional Roman numerals. The pointer parts of the hands
are gold coloured and the tails are black.
The wooden bracket, that holds the clock casing to the tower wall, is also black
and has some intricate carving on it.
"For over two centuries, the great clock projecting
from the tower of St. Magnus was a London landmark, until its profile was
subsumed by skyscrapers. It was made by Langley Bradley, dated 1700 on a
benefaction board within, but presented by Sir Charles Duncombe in 1709,
legendarily in fulfilment of a vow made as an apprentice, after missing an
appointment for want of a reliable public clock. It cost £485 5s 4d, at a time
when the national per capita income was less than £12; its original gilded
figures (of St. Magnus and St. Margaret, Atlas and Hercules, and two cupids)
were replaced in the early 19thC by the present plain pediment. Sir Charles was
a wealthy goldsmith, Lord Mayor in 1709, satirised by Pope for his purchase of
an aristocratic country seat; in town, he lived under the sign of The
Grasshopper in Lombard Street, once the home of Sir Thomas Gresham (founder of
the Royal Exchange) and now No. 68."
Source: The Church Website.