Time Ball - Nelson Monument - Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Posted by: 
tmob
N 55° 57.260 W 003° 10.955
30U E 488599 N 6201011
A Time Ball at the top of the Nelson Monument on Calton Hill, Edinburgh.
Waymark Code: WMFPMJ
Location: Southern Scotland, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/14/2012
Views: 47
«Nelson Monument is a commemorative tower in honour of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, situated on top of Calton Hill, in Edinburgh. It was built between 1807 and 1815 to commemorate Nelson's victory over the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, and his own death at the same battle. The monument was restored in 2009.»
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«In 1852, Edinburgh installed a time ball at the top of the Nelson Monument on Calton Hill, to enable the sailors in Leith Docks and the Firth of Forth to check and adjust their chronometers.
The Edinburgh time ball was devised by the photographer and Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Charles Piazzi Smyth, who had worked previously as assistant astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope Observatory, which had its own time ball.
The time ball mechanism was designed by the Edinburgh clockmaker, Frederick James Ritchie.
On the Nelson Monument, the time ball was raised shortly before one o'clock every day, then lowered at one o'clock so that the people of Edinburgh and on the ships in the Firth of Forth could check their clocks and chronometers.»
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