My home town, Wolverhampton, had two time balls in the town centre towards
the end of the 19th century. Goodness knows if they both dropped at the
same time.
My grandfather was a watch and clock maker and jeweller in the small market
town of Spilsby, Lincolnshire. My father used to relate that grandfather
kept a "regulator" in the shop window so that people could check the time
as they went by. He set the regulator from the clock on the parish
church. On noticing a man regularly checking his watch against the
regulator, grandfather asked him why he was so particular about the
time. The man told him that he had to be, as he set the clock on the
parish church.
I now find that this story is told in many other places. It's a good
example of what probably started off as an amusing story becoming part of
the oral tradition and thus part of the local history of a place. I am
slowly assembling a list of bits of Wolverhampton's local history which
everyone locally knows to be true - but which are not. I am sure that an
analysis of such stories from different places would reveal something
really interesting about something to do with local history.
Frank Sharman
Wolverhampton
01902 763246
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