I popped into Exeter Cathedral on Wednesday. It has a spectacular fan vaulted roof and several interesting features. Its best feature, however, is possibly the astronomical clock.
This was created in about 1484 (which would make it in the year before Bosworth when Henry VII defeated Richard III). On the outside of the lower dial you can see a fleur-de-lys (apparently this represents the sun, possibly through a misunderstood derivation of the name from 'fleur-de-luce' or 'flower of light', possibly because the symbol may represent the trinity though I'm not sure why that would in turn suggest the sun). So this clock is reading 12.45 PM. The tail of the fleur-de-lys points almost to the number 23, so this is the 23rd day of the lunar month and the moon will be a half-moon, as shown. The golden ball in the centre of the dial is the Earth; this is a geocentric astronomy.
The small upper dial was added in 1759 to show the minutes.
There is a door below the clock with a hole in it. In the photograph a cuddly cat has been added to the hole (and a cuddly toy mouse peeps through one of the windows in the door. There is a legend that this hole was cut so the cathedrals cat could gain access to keep the clock clear of mice; this is supposed to be the source of the nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock.
What distresses me is that none of that information was gleaned from the free guide to the cathedral issued with the entrance ticket (£6) nor did I read it on any notice. In fact, the clock itself was rather hidden behind the cathedral shop.
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