Wells Cathedral Clock

Wells Cathedral clock dates from around 1390 and is located in the north transept. It is believed to be the 2nd oldest working clock in the world and the oldest one to have its original dials. The name of the clockmaker who built it isn't known for certain.  It may have been made by Peter Lightfoot, who was a monk at Glastonbury Abbey or it may have been made by the same person who made one for Salisbury Cathedral at about the same time.  It replaced an earlier clock which pre-dated it by over 100 years.  

The clock has an astronomical 24 hour dial.  Midday is at the top and midnight is at the bottom. The hour hand has a golden sun on it and the whole face represents the universe as it was understood to be in medieval times. The earth is in the middle of the clock face and the background has fixed stars painted on it.  In each of the 4 corners an angel is shown holding a face, which is blowing towards the earth.  These represent the 4 cardinal winds blowing from the 4 compass points.

The minute hand, which is a small star inside the sun, was added in the 18th century. 

In the middle of the clock, the number of days (1-30) since the last new moon is shown by a pointer.  This is accurate to one day in 33 months.  A golden moon appears through a round hole in the central disc to reflect its shape in the night sky.  Opposite the moon circle is a small painting of Phoebe.

Every quarter of an hour two knights emerge on a platform above the clock to have a jousting match.  One of them gets knocked off his horse every time he comes round.

Jack Blandiver/Blandifer is located above and to the right of the clock.  He chimes the quarter hours with his hells and strikes the bell in front of him with his hammer on the hour.

There is another face on the external wall of the north transept.  This dates from c1475.   The face, motion, bells, timber jacks and counterweights were cleaned, repaired and restored 2022-2023.  

The clock was wound by hand until 2010 when it was replaced by an electric winding motor, following the retirement of Paul Fisher.  It had been wound by 5 generations of his family.

The clock movement was originally regulated by a foliat mechanism.  This was converted to pendulum regulation after 1657.  The original weight-driven medieval mechanism was replaced in Victorian times.  This operates the astronomical dial and also the outside dial. The original mechanism is now at the Science Museum in London, where it is still in working order.

Wells Cathedral Clock

Location of Wells Cathedral Clock

Jack Blandiver

Outside dial

Close up of the outside dial in 2017 before it was restored

External dial in February 2025 after restoration

West front of Wells Cathedral

General Charles Gordon of Khartoum

Charles George Gordon was born on 28th January 1833 in Woolwich.  His parents were Lieutenant-General Henry William Gordon and his wife Elizabeth (nee Enderby).  He attended Fullands School in South Road, Taunton c1843-1846.  During this time he lodged at a house in Upper High Street.

In around 1846 he attended a military school in Shooters Hill and in 1848 he entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich.  He was commissioned second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in June 1852.  In February 1854 he was promoted to lieutenant and was appointed assistant garrison engineer at Pembroke Dock. While at Pembroke he became a committed Christian.

Charles Gordon volunteered for service in the Crimean War in 1855. He took part in the attack on Redan and the siege of Sevastapol. He was a proficient map maker and in 1856-8, after the end of the Crimean War, he was involved in surveying and delineating the new boundaries between the Russian and Ottoman empires in modern-day Romania and later in Armenia.

In April 1859 Gordon was promoted to the rank of captain and was based at Chatham until June 1860 when he volunteered to fight the Chinese in the Arrow War (also known as the 2nd Opium War).  He remained in China until the end of 1864 and played a part in crushing the Taiping rebellion and in defending Shanghai.  He was given the nickname Chinese Gordon by the British press and public.  

Gordon returned to England in early 1865 and was Commander of the Royal Engineer at Gravesend in Kent. He was given the job of supervising the building of forts at the mouth of the River Thames.  In his spare time he helped local homeless boys and allowed some of them to live in his house.

In 1873 Ismāʿīl Pasha, the Khedive (Viceroy) of Egypt appointed Gordon to the post of Governor of the province of Equatoria in Sudan. From 1874-1876 he mapped the Upper Nile River, set up a line of stations along the river as far as what is now Uganda and suppressed the slave trade in Equatoria.  In 1877 he accepted the post of Governor General of Sudan.  He crushed rebellions and further reduced the slave trade. 

He returned to England in early 1880.  He then served in India, China, Mauritius and the Cape Colony until October 1882.  He spent most of 1883 studying antiquities in the Holy Land.

In 1884 Gordon was sent to Sudan by the British government to evacuate Egyptian troops from Khartoum.  They were under threat of attack by the Mahdists, who were followers of the Sudanese religious leader Muḥammad Aḥmad al-Mahdī.  Gordon arrived in Khartoum in February 1884.  He managed to evacuate 2,000 civilians and 600 soldiers before the Mahdists besieged Khartoum in March 1884.  On 26th January 1885, Mahdists broke into Khartoum and killed Gordon.  A few days later a relief force arrived.  Gordon was hailed as a martyr by the British press and acquired the name Gordon of Khartoum.  His body was never found.

Plaque on house in Upper High Street where Charles Gordon lodged while he was at school in Taunton

House in Upper High Street, Taunton where Charles Gordon lodged

Fullands House, South Road

Fox, Fowler & Co Bank, Wellington

Fox, Fowler & Co was the last private bank in England to issue its own banknotes.  The bank was founded as Fox & Co in 1787 by Quaker Thomas Fox, who had just established a company in Wellington, which made woollen cloth.  The bank was initially used as a way to transfer funds between suppliers and customers.  It was also used by the employees of the woollen mill for their wages and savings.  Fox & Co issued their own banknotes for the first time in 1787.

In the 1870s the banking and woollen cloth parts of the business were separated.  The banking side then expanded and opened branches in towns across Somerset and Devon.  

The Bank Charter Act of 1844 banned new banks from issuing notes.  Those banks already doing so, were allowed to continue, but only up to the amount that they had circulating in 1844.  When banks merged after 1844, they lost the right to issue banknotes.  The number of banks issuing banknotes gradually declined, as banks merged or banks gave up the right to issue banknotes voluntarily.

In 1879 the bank was renamed Fox, Fowler & Co.  It continued to grow and took over several smaller private banks in the south west of England.  In 1885 the Wellington branch moved to a new purpose-built bank in Fore Street.

Fox, Fowler & Co had 55 or 56 branches by 1921.  At this point the Fox family decided to concentrate on their other business interests. They agreed that Lloyds Bank should take over their banking interests and Fox, Fowler & Co lost their right to issue banknotes at this point.  The building at 27 Fore Street in Wellington remained a branch of Lloyds Bank until March 2024, when it was closed down.

Fox, Fowler & Co/Lloyds Bank branch at 27 Fore Street, Wellington

Plaque on 27 Fore Street, Wellington