Heritage

The Timeball Tower, Deal

Situated on Deal's historic seafront is a unique four-floor museum of time and maritime communications, the Timeball Tower. This fact sheet gives a brief history of the Tower and a description of some of its exhibits and displays. The Tower was restored and converted in 1985 by Dover District Council and British Telecom International.

Bonfires, Beacons and Shutters – Early Signalling at Deal

The site where the Timeball Tower stands has long been used as a signalling site. As long ago as Tudor times bonfires were lit on the shingle beach close by to advise ships in the Downs anchorage of the arrival of mail. On the display panels you can read of other early signalling methods such as the Roman Pharos (or lighthouse) at Dover, the Armada beacon network across Kent, and of the curious Tuba-Stentoro-Phonica speaking trumpet used at Deal Castle in 1671.

Shutter Telegraph

The first permanent structure on the Tower site was built in 1796 during the French wars. It was called a Shutter Telegraph and consisted of a frame containing six shutters which could be moved into 63 different combinations to indicate the alphabet, numerals and preselected phrases. The shutter telegraph at Deal was the terminus of a 12 station line to London and allowed the Port Admiral at Deal to communicate with the Admiralty within minutes. Prior to this only messengers on horseback or limited smoke or fire signals could be sent.

A working model on the new first floor display allows visitors to send their own shutter telegraph messages.

Semaphore Telegraph – The Building of the Deal Tower

In 1815 at the end of the French Wars the Shutter Telegraph system was dismantled, but by 1821 Deal had a new and grander signal tower, the Deal Semaphore, the building which now houses the Timeball Tower Museum. The tower was then topped by a 30ft, semaphore mast with two moveable arms capable of giving 45 different signals.

The Deal Semaphore was the terminus of a 17 station chain of stations stretching along the coast to Beachy Head. It was operated by the Coastal Blockade, a fierce anti-smuggling force who had their headquarters in Deal. They were led by one Captain William McCulloch, R.N., known locally as ‘Flogging Joey'. The semaphore system allowed secret messages to be passed about the movements of smugglers on the East Coast.

A working model of the semaphore and details of its use may be found on the first floor.

The Timeball Tower

In 1831 the Coastal Blockade were disbanded and the semaphore tower was used as accommodation for the men and families of the newly formed Coast Guard service.

Just over 20 years later in 1853 the Deal Tower was chosen to bear a new apparatus. This was the timeball. Unlike its predecessors, which received and sent messages, the timeball was to give only one message, once a day at one o'clock. By this method an accurate time signal was provided for Masters of ships in the Downs and chronometers were then checked and re-set so that mariners could calculate their longitude position on outward journeys.

The Operation of the Timeball

Deal's timeball has a special place in history. It was the first to be operated by a direct signal (via the electric telegraph of the S.E. Railway) from Greenwich.

Sir George Airy, the Seventh Astronomer Royal, based in the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, supervised the installation of the timeball and controlled its operation for many years. The Tower was known as The Royal Signal Tower, but is now more generally known as the Timeball Tower.

The ball was dropped at 1.00 p.m. throughout the year (unless prevented by extremely bad weather conditions or a mechanical failure).

The mechanism was operated by the Tower Keeper in the following sequence:-

1) 12.55 p.m. The ball was raised to half-way position by manual operation of the winding gear. Observers were thus warned that the time signal was imminent.

2) 12.57 p.m. The Keeper further elevated the ball to its highest position where it was held by mechanically operated catches.

3) 1.00 p.m. A galvanic (electrical) impulse initiated by the Greenwich Observatory and routed through the South Eastern (SE) Railway telegraph lines, released the catches through an electrical/mechanical system so that the ball which was mounted on a rod dropped rapidly.

As the ball fell it was slowed by the action of a piston, at the base of the rod, which forced air from a damping cylinder which ran down into the second floor bedroom (no longer in sight).

At the instant of drop observers had an accurate time check as a reference for correcting their timepieces. On a ship this would be the G.M.T. chronometers.

Unfortunately, it has not been possible to restore this mechanism and the daily rise and drop is now carried out automatically by compressed air controlled by microprocessor.

The daily supervision of the timeball was the responsibility of Timeball Keepers who lived in the Tower and details of several of these men can be found on the third floor. The renovated mechanism, the original 1853 Shepherd Galvanic Clock and many facts and details on the Timeball Tower and time itself, including a speaking clock device and a timeline can also be found on this floor.

Sir George Airy

Radio and Satellite – Modern Signalling Methods

The Timeball Tower was last operated on 25th February 1927. With the advent of accurate radio time-signals which could be used out of the sight of land it had become obsolete.

Details of contemporary and later forms of maritime communication such as the invention of the telegraph, the wireless and the telephone can be found on the first floor together with details of the growth of Coastal Radio and its use by modern shipping. Deal's nearest Coastal Radio station at the North Foreland, run by British Telecom International is well illustrated. It is one of the most important stations in the world, handling traffic in the world's busiest seaway.