Palace of Westminster, London - Feb 2007

A clockkeeper, sometimes seen as clock keeper, refers to a form of employment seen prevalently during

Middle Age In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

involving the tracking of time and the maintaining of

clock A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and ...

s and other timekeeping devices. However, the practice and its appearance throughout history fluctuated in centuries following the Middle Ages, and the necessity of an attendant to clockkeep remained long after the invention of the

mechanical clock A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and th ...

. The clockkeeper was often paid considerable amounts of money to ensure the accuracy of a given clock or clocks, as the practice involved at least basic skills in

mathematic Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

s and

number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual number ...

s in a time when education had not yet made a widespread appearance. Clockkeepers were also expected to keep the clocks in good working order, and that they did not malfunction. The prominence of the position throughout the period varies, and the contexts in which it was applied also varies; often, the lord of a settlement or manor would employ a clockkeeper, and, just as often, an entire town may have had a designated person to regulate the town clock. They were also seen in use in

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

s and

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

. Time keeping in the latter case was important considering the various schedules of the Church, the complexity of its day, and the various daily, weekly, monthly and annual rituals it took part in. Recorded instances of such holy places requiring a clockkeeper during the late 13th and early 14th centuries included, among others: *

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north b ...

Cambrai Cathedral Cambrai Cathedral (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Grâce de Cambrai) is a Catholic church located in Cambrai, Nord, France, and is the seat of the Archbishop of Cambrai. The cathedral was registered as a '' monument historique'' on 9 August 1 ...

The dimensions of clockkeeping were also interchangeable. During the period, most clocks needed rewinding at least twice a day, but, depending on the specifics of the employment, this may have differed. Other details included whether the clockkeeper was permanent, or periodic—some clockkeepers were merely employed to check and ensure the good order of the clock, rather than to constantly monitor the time. In modern times, a clockkeeper is the official in charge of clocking playing time in certain sporting events.

References

* * *{{cite book, last=Morgan, first=Jim, author2=Timothy E. Morgan, title=Williamsburg: A City that History Made, year=2004, publisher=Arcadia Publishing, isbn=0-7385-2473-5

External links

William R. Kennedy, "A message to those in care of historic tower clocks"
Clocks Medieval occupations