Albert Clock

About

The Albert Clock is a clocktower memorial in Barnstaple in Devon to Albert, Prince Consort, the husband of Queen Victoria. It has been listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England since 1988.

Located in The Square in Barnstaple, the tower was built in 1862 at the suggestion of the then Mayor of Barnstaple, John Norrington, following the death of Prince Albert in the previous year. The tower was paid for by public subscription with some of the money being raised for the provision of a drinking fountain. The original design was for a tower without a clock. At its solemn dedication ceremony in 1862 surrounded by local dignitaries the clock's pendulum was set to swing at 11.00 p.m., the hour Prince Albert had died. At the same time the water started to flow from the fountain. As Mayor Norrington, a teetotaller, stepped forward to take the first drink from the fountain a man threw a cupful of what was found to be gin into the water. Norrington was outraged at this indignity to himself, to the Queen and to the memory of Prince Albert. An investigation revealed that the mystery man was John Baker, the landlord of the Mermaid Inn and a local Tory councillor. Designed by local...