Tuesday December 13th 2011 00:19

Cirencester Parish Church Clock Tower

Having taken a photograph of last year's Christmas Market from a high vantage point, this year I thought I'd see if I could aim a little bit higher:

#1

A very narrow spiral staircase winds its way up to the top of the tower, with various rooms along the way, the most fascinating of which housed the clock mechanism:

#2

 

#3

This large cylinder is part of what is essentially an enormous musical box:

#4

As the drum turns, the studs hit the levers:

#5

which pull on the ropes, ringing the bells above!

The bar across the upper half of this picture is the draft shaft that drives the other clock face:

#6

#7

At the top of the tower it's (obviously) possible to see some of the detail that's harder to spot from the ground:

#8

 

#9

The view up Black Jack Street:

#10

A view of Gosditch Street:

#11

The shot I climbed all the steps for:

#12

The following image is made from 25 photographs. The resulting image has a resolution of 12,470 x 5,575 (a 694MB file).

#13

My thanks go to Mr. S. Smith of the Parish Office for showing me the church tower and explaining its fascinating history.