King’s Lynn – King’s Lynn Minster (Tide Clock)

The Minster’s tide clock, with the lettering around the dial spelling out ‘Lynn High Tide’. When it’s high tide, which it wasn’t on my visit, the man in the moon will appear on the right hand side of the clock. It’s all rather clever, especially given that the original dates to around the seventeenth century. The original clock, which had been donated by Thomas Tue, was damaged during the tower’s collapse in the eighteenth century and then wasn’t looked after particularly well.

The history of this tide clock seems confused, as some authors are claiming that this is the original clock, others that it’s a later replacement. It was certainly worked on during the 1990s by Colin Shewring, but it does appear to me to be the original clock restored rather than something entirely new. However, I’m not a tide clock expert to be able to know for sure……