The Time Ball on the Nelson Monument, on the top of Edinburgh's Calton Hill, was installed in 1852. It enabled ships in Leith harbour to set their chronometers accurately as it dropped from the top of the monument at exactly 1pm each day. An audible signal was added nine years later, when the One o'Clock Gun at Edinburgh Castle began to fire at the same precise moment. But 18 months ago the city was battered by gales and the Time Ball was damaged and has not operated since. Now, thanks to a £50,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant, it is to be restored over the next six months. A large iron band is corroding inside the stonework at the top of the monument and it will have to be removed and replaced. The Time Ball used to be connected to the One O'clock Gun by a 4000-feet telegraph wire that stretched all the way from the Castle to the Nelson Monument. This was removed in the 1930s.
For a video of the Time Ball (and one o'clock gun) and some related information, go to:
www.timegun.org
