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The Clock Keeper of St. Michael

© Virginia Marin

It is strange but true that church bells were once known as clocks because the folk set their comings and goings by the ringing of the bells. Church bells in Germany were called glocke; in France, cloche; and in Medieval Latin, cloca. And a glockenspiel, that amusing and entertaining percussion instrument with tuned metal bars in a frame that is played with hammers, is reminiscent of a clock which chimes a tune at fifteen minute intervals or of one which strikes a chime for every hour up to twelve. But did you ever hear of a clock striking thirteen?...

The tale of St. Paul's clock striking thirteen is related in Walcott's Memorials of Westminster and refers to John Hatfield, a soldier of William III's reign who died in 1770 at the age of one-hundred-and-two. Many years before, Hatfield had been accused before a court martial of falling asleep on duty at Windsor. The burden of proof for his innocence was that he had heard St. Paul's clock strike thirteen. Several witnesses confirmed his affirmation. Although found not guilty, it was determined that he should be held against release because most folks seemed to know that clocks did not strike thirteen. Upon being returned to his cell from the dock he had nothing to look forward to but his victuals at the noon hour. To his surprise, shortly after he had consumed his food, the cell door was opened and the guard informed him of his release. Why? Well, St. Paul's clock had, once again, struck thirteen!

Big Ben figures in another strange tale. On the morning of Thursday the fourteenth of March in 1861, the inhabitants of Westminster were roused from their sleep by the repeated strokes of the new great bell. The people thought perhaps it was some sort of omen that a member of the royal family was dying. It proved to be due, rather, to a derangement of the clock, for at four and five o'clock, ten and twelve strokes were struck instead of the correct number. Within twenty-four hours of this happening, however, the duchess of Kent (Queen Victoria's mother) was reported to be near death and on the sixteenth of March, she did in fact die. Was Big Ben's ironical chiming an omen, after all?

It is thought that the oldest functioning clock tower in America is the tower clock in St. Michael's Church, Charleston, South Carolina. This famous landmark tower contains not only the clock but also

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