While in Deal, Kent the other weekend we came across this curiosity, it's a time ball used in the 19th century to signal the time of day to passing ships in order that they could set their marine chronometers precisely and measure longitude accurately. It was built in 1855 and seems hopelessly clunky nowadays, although back in the day I bet the lives of thousands were protected by this simple tech allowing sailors to know where they were! There's a similar device at Greenwich in London which we saw a few years ago, amazing what you find around this country of ours!
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