hunterofhistory

Part of the dial from Hampton Court Palace’s astronomical clock being moved in 1960. Rebecca from the HCP staff is making sure the chaps have the correct time..

The clock was installed into the gatehouse to the inner courtyard in 1540, and can tell the time (obviously), but it also displays the month, the day of the month, the number of days since the beginning of the year, the signs of the zodiac, and the phases of the moon.
This is BEFORE the days when it was understood that the earth orbited the sun. Henry VIII (who would have cast his eyes upon this clock many a time) and Nicholas Kratzer (Henry’s astronomer) who designed it, would have believed that the earth was the centre of the universe. So.. the clock is a horological representation of the advanced yet unsophisticated science of the day.

Marilyn waves to the people from the windows at the back of the Savoy Hotel, 1956