Dondi’s Astrarium is considered to be the very first mechanical planetary clock. It was designed in Italy at the end of the 14th century by Giovanni Dondi (1330-1388) who created this large brass mechanism, roughly a metre tall, to automate the complex calculations necessary to create horoscopes....
The Battle of Agincourt Museum, or le ‘Centre Azincourt 1415’ as it is officially named, was redesigned, expanded and improved, a couple of years ago. It is now a centre of discovery and learning for all age groups with a mission to explain the background and events...
Guédelon is a 13th century castle under construction from scratch using only medieval tools, materials and techniques. It is a fascinating project in experimental archaeology that began in 1995 – a quarter century ago! Construction began two years later* in a former quarry in the middle of...
It’s not just the amazing suits of medieval armour in this collection that make this small museum so special. It’s the way they were meticulously displayed and catalogued in the middle of the 16th century, that makes this and the castle’s other curiosities, the world’s oldest museum!...
This clock in Salisbury Cathedral is thought to be the world’s oldest… that is still working! Once again it was the Dutch who were working at the cutting edge of technology (remember, their engineers were all over the UK at the start of the middle ages building...
What's not to like about the pure application of turbines, gears and cogs?
This is a niche blog about technically-minded travel. It reflects my own interests in the mechanical, technical, historical, engineering, transport and military world.
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