Above photo shows top of Guildhall tower, again needs to be enlarged to see stem of time ball. Picture taken from Queens Gardens on Saturday (see yesterday blog). A time ball was an aid to navigation, incorporated was a mechanical devise which caused the time ball to rise to the top of the pole just before midday each day. At 12 noon precisely the time ball would then drop to the bottom of the pole, this allowing ship’s captains to accurately set timepieces on board (see yesterday blog). Obviously its effectiveness would depend on the clearness of the view.
Clearly time balls were soon to become redundant with the advent of broadcasting time signals by radio, although the architect in the early 20th century was not to know that. It seems that the Guildhall Time Ball stopped working in the early 1920s. ‘Hull Council is currently developing a Heritage Lottery Fund bid to restore the Time Ball to working condition. The project will also renovate the Guildhall Tower and will provide new access and learning opportunities related to Hull’s maritime heritage’ (quote from promotional leaflet, see yesterday blog).
With this particular project to the forefront of my mind I noticed last evening that the ‘onion shaped’ cap on the Old Mill restaurant, Barton, had at the top an imitation time ball and it would be interesting to explore whether other buildings prominent from the Humber Estuary once had time balls at the top. An objection to the developer’s plans for the redundant tower mill near Waterside Road, Barton, has resulted in a requirement for it to be capped with an ‘onion shaped’ cap rather than just a rounded one as originally intended.