Every town used to have its own time, and Bridport was no exception.

In the days when few people had watches, they took their time from the clock on top of the tallest building in the town.

Synchronising with other parts of the world did not matter in an age of manual communications. But the arrival of the railway put an end to all that.

In the 1840s the country was gripped by Railway Mania, but nothing came of plans for a branch line put forward over the years by both the South Western Railway and the Great Western Railway to bring the railway to Bridport.

In 1851, ever hopeful of gaining its railway, the Town Council suggested the clock was changed to London time, as Bridport time was 11 minutes later than Greenwich Mean Time.

There was uproar as local people did not want to lose those 11 minutes from their lives. They were, as now, independently minded folk.

To solve the problem, the Town Council added another minute hand to the clock, so that it showed both London and Bridport time.

The extra weight caused the clock to run slow and eventually stop working altogether.

So in November 1854, Bridport finally abandoned its local time and the clock only showed Greenwich Mean Time.

This meant that when the railway eventually came to Bridport in 1857, people would not miss their train.

Nowadays nobody uses “Bridport Time” any more - unless they’re late for work of course.

*Taken from Quirky Bridport by Tegwyn Jones, a Bridport Museum publication, available from the museum shop in South Street.