The Shepherd Gate Clock

A90Six

The Shepherd Gate Clock

The Shepherd Gate Clock is mounted in the wall outside the Greenwich Observatory. It was the first clock to show Greenwich Mean Time to the public. It is a slave clock that keeps time by recieving electric (galvano-magnetic, as it was then called) pulses from a master clock in the Observatory. It has a twenty-four hour analogue dial with Roman Numerals and the addition of a zero (Romans did not use Zero)to mark midnight. With the coming of the railway, Sir George Airy wanted to standardise the many local times that were in use in the country at the time. In 1849, Charles Shepherd of 53 Leadenhall Street, London, had patented a system for controlling a network of Master and slave clocks using electricity. He had installed the Master, Slave Clocks and Time Ball at Greenwich by August 1852. The Slaves here worked with pulses received every second. Pulses were also sent to another Master at London Bridge which then passed them on at a lesser frequency to clocks all around the country. By 1866, time signals were being sent to Harvard University, USA, via transatlantic cable.

The Shepherd Gate Clock belongs to the following groups:

All Things Poetic, Artistic, Philosophical, Greenwich Mean Time, Live, Love, Dream: May you have a Blessed Christmas Season , PixElations - The Art of Photoshop, Safe Haven, The Patchwork and United Kingdom Available for sale as

Greeting Cards, Matted Prints, Laminated Prints, Mounted Prints, Canvas Prints, Framed Prints and Posters

The Shepherd Gate Clock by A90Six
The Shepherd Gate Clock by A90Six
  • LjMaxx

    LjMaxx

    Fabulous clock image and interesting stat information to go with it… Brick work/treatment here equally nice.. :)

  • A90Six replied

    Thanks Lj! Its a piece of history stuck in a wall.
                                            :) Tony.

  • midzing

    midzing

    fantastic image and information,,,, well done

  • A90Six replied

    Thanks Wendy! Good to see you!
                                            :) Tony.

  • mrscarlotta

    mrscarlotta

    Brilliant, very old, never seen anything like this before hon xxxxxxxxxxxxx

  • A90Six replied

    Thanks Carlotta! Thought you were talking about me for a minute!
                                            :) Tony.

  • Agnes McGuinness

    Agnes McGuinness

    This s beautiful, Tony, and your treatment really suits the subject so well. A lovely bit of history. Agnes:))

  • A90Six replied

    Thanks Agnes! The clock was great, but the brickwork was a little dull so I played with it a little.
                                            :) Tony.

  • Lois  Bryan

    Lois Bryan

    WOW!!!! hooooow interesting!!! I had NO IDEA any of that took place!!!! Soooo cool!!!! And … let us not overlook your fabulous photo!!!!! Wonderfully detailed!!!!! Great, great job!!!!!

  • A90Six replied

    Hi Lois! I thought that was a Woo Hoo and instead got blown away with a Wow How! Thank you so much!
                                            :) Tony.

  • Alf Caruana

    Alf Caruana

    that is so interesting, thanks for posting that info. The image has excellent detail. well done

  • A90Six replied

    Thanks Alf! It’s funny when you think GMT has only been around for about 150 years. Before that, a watch would have been pretty useless to anyone travelling with so many time changes every few miles East or West.
                                            :) Tony.

  • izzybeth

    izzybeth

    the colors… THE COLORS!!!

  • A90Six replied

    Thanks Izzy! I brought the colour out in the bricks as they were a bit dull in the orig. I thought 13:05:17 showed the hands off pretty well!
                                            :) Tony.

  • izzybeth

    izzybeth

    Oh, and look at the little heart pointer thingy. I love this.

  • Mayina

    Mayina

    Great image Tony!!

  • A90Six replied

    Thanks Gwenda!
                                            :) Tony.

  • Béla Török

    Béla Török

    Wow…excellent capture Tony!

  • A90Six replied

    Thanks Béla!
                                            :) Tony.

  • andreisky

    andreisky

    Great shot Tony!

  • A90Six replied

    Thanks Andrei! Glad you liked it!
                                            :) Tony.

  • SandraRos

    SandraRos

    Woooow thank you so much ! We where always wondering about this clock but could never get the correct info ! So glad you posted this one

  • A90Six replied

    Thank you Sandra! So glad the info was of interest to you!
                                            :) Tony.

  • Paulette x

    Paulette x

    History group would love this, they’d say something like – excellent clarity, great colour work well suited to the mono like clock. For my part – s’alright :)
    Clive x

  • A90Six replied

    Thanks Clive! I joined History and slipped it in there!
                                            :) Tanya

  • Rosalie Dale IPA

    Rosalie Dale IPA

    Amazing detail in this my friend! Enjoyed the narrative also.

  • A90Six replied

    Thanks Rosalie!
                                            :) Tony.

  • amarica

    amarica

    Great shot and information Tony!

  • A90Six replied

    Thanks Ann! Glad you liked it and found it interesting!
                                            :) Tony.

  • timcorke

    timcorke

    im unsure as to what boxes this ticks but i just love it – well done!

  • A90Six replied

    ‘Ticks’ very good1 thanks Tim!
    :) Tony.

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