The astronomical clock in the Cathedral Church of St Peter  in Exeter, England dates from 1484.  In 1841 my great great-grandfather Richard Ingram Pentecost  was a student at the Training School in the Precinct of the Close of St-Peter’s Cathedral in Exeter City, England, and so would have gazed upon this same clock.

Wikipedia informs  that the fleur-de-lys ‘hand’ indicates the time (and the position of the sun in the sky); the silver ball and inner dial shows both the age of the moon and its phase; the upper dial, added in 1760, shows the minutes.  There is a door below the clock with a round hole near its base. This was apparently cut in the early 17th century to allow entry for the Bishop’s cat to deter vermin that were attracted to the animal fat used to lubricate the clock mechanism.

The headstone with the cross marks the grave of my 3x great grandparents, Richard and Anne Pentecost.

Continue reading “Connected through Time”