ON Saturday (October 7), the North East Meccano Society is holding its annual exhibition in Darlington where, amid many amazing models, there will be a working Congreve Clock.
You may remember that we stumbled over the concept of a Congreve Clock in February. It was invented in 1808 by Sir William Congreve and features a ball rolling in a never-ending zig-zag beneath the clockface. When the ball reaches the end of its journey, it knocks the hands on the clock forward by 15 seconds and immediately begins its return 15-second journey.
READ MORE: CALLING TIME ON THE RUNNING BALL CLOCK OF RICHMOND
A clockmaker’s apprentice made a Congreve clock – also known as a “rolling ball clock” – in Richmond around 1835 and it remained on display in a jeweller’s shop window until about 1970, fascinating boys with mechanical minds. Fred Thompson, of Hurworth, saw it and in later life has made a working Meccano model of it. On a good day, Fred’s clock will run for 15 hours and be accurate to 10 minutes.
The clock will be among scores of models of all kinds: early cars, early railway engines, working traction engines, walking robots, even a Flintstones car.
The exhibition on Saturday, October 7, is at St Cuthbert’s Church from 10am to 3pm and everyone is welcome. Light refreshments will be available.
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LAST week we told how the Flass Well in Durham had been restored – and thank-you to all the correspondents who pointed out that in our picture of the unveiling can clearly be seen one of our favourite objects: a stinkpipe or stenchpole, a column of Victorian cast iron which once vented Durham’s sewers to stop them exploding.
READ MORE: RESTORATION OF DURHAM'S FLASS WELL
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Wells were crucial in providing clean water to local people, but they did have a horrible habit of becoming contaminated, particularly if they were next to a churchyard stuffed full of buried, decaying bodies.
Tim Brown of Ferryhill alerts us to the story of William Stokoe, who was a well regarded surgeon in Hexham.
His brother-in-law was James Finley Weir Johnston, of Durham, the first professor of mineralogy and chemistry at Durham university when it was founded in 1833 whose name lives on in Durham Johnston School.
In September 1855, the professor took seriously ill at his home in 56 Claypath and William was summoned to treat him. After caring for his patient, William retired to his room - and died.
Two days later, the professor died.
We don’t know where William was buried, although he has a plaque in his memory in Hexham Abbey.
But the professor had been a member of the city’s sanitary board where he had become aware of the dangers posed by cemeteries in heavily populated areas. He therefore left instructions that he should be buried in the countryside at St Bartholomew’s Church at Sunderland Bridge, near Croxdale, rather than in St Oswald’s churchyard where he feared his decaying remains would leach into the water table and contaminate the well on the riverbank below.
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