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Balls broken in Edinburgh

Edinburgh's Time Ball is to be renovated, thanks to £50,000 of Heritage Lottery Fund support. Edinburgh's second-most-famous timepiece after the One O'Clock Gun can be found on Calton Hill, on top of the Nelson Monument.

The project is part of a scheme called the 12 Monuments, and this work will hopefully reconcile Edinburgh's well-known couple. The Time Ball has not been in operation now for 18 months.

The Time Ball actually preceded the One O'Clock Gun. It was intended to give sailors a reference point to set their clocks by. As anyone who has lived in Edinburgh knows, there's often a high chance of rain. So the ha's, mist and fogs made it difficult to see the time ball dropping. Thus the gun was born, 9 years later, and is audible (allegedly) in Leith Harbour, 2 miles away.

Did you know there used to be a telegraph wire from Edinburgh Castle to Calton Hill? The gun would trigger the ball in the tower to drop. The tower has been in operation since 1852.

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