Parish Church
Coningsby is overseen by the tower of its 15th century parish church, ‘St Michael's’ with its unique one-handed clock face. One of the few in the country (there is another at St Andrew's in Holt, Norfolk), it is claimed by the Coningsby Parish Council to be the largest of its kind in the world. The face is painted directly onto the wall of the tower and was probably installed in the 17th century. It is 16.5 feet in diameter and its hand is nearly 9 feet long. The driving weights are large stones and the pendulum is so long that it swings only once every two seconds. The pendulum is not actually attached to the clock; it is some distance away, linked by a long connecting rod. There are only three wheels in the timekeeping mechanism but it keeps excellent time and needs winding once a day. The tower on which the clock face is painted is quite unusual in that it is on the outside of the building. There is an arched passage under the tower which is part of a public footpath from the High Street to the School on School lane, through the churchyard.
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Famous quotes containing the words parish and/or church:
“When the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls, and the stars begin to flicker in the sky,”
—Mitchell Parish (1901–1993)
“The church is a sort of hospital for men’s souls, and as full of quackery as the hospital for their bodies. Those who are taken into it live like pensioners in their Retreat or Sailor’s Snug Harbor, where you may see a row of religious cripples sitting outside in sunny weather.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)