Wells is a place full of history, whether that be going back hundreds of years or a handful of decades.

Welcome to our Back In Time feature, where Wells Nub News looks at people, places and events that have shaped our city.

In this latest article, Lavinia Byrne looks at the famous figure that is Jack Blandiver.

Who is Wells' most exalted citizen?

He's a very elderly gentleman, he lives in the cathedral and his name is Jack. That part of his name he shares with a load of other quarter jacks. His surname is Blandiver, though in times gone by, that was spelt Blandifer.

A quarter jack is an automaton, a device that strikes a bell on the quarter hour. The name is probably derived from the French, meaning a tool called a "jacke", used by the craftsmen building church towers, the steeplejacks.

His surname could indicate he bears the name of his maker, a Mr Bland or even Monsieur Bland.

Jack Blandiver lives in north aisle of the cathedral, 30 feet up in the air. The empire he surveys is a mechanical one.

He can see the internal face is the oldest surviving clock face in the world. It dates from 1390.

As well as showing the time on a 24-hour dial, it reflects the motion of the sun and the moon. Jack never moves from his perch so he finds it useful to see the phases of the moon and the time since the last new moon.

This way he gets to know how well the inside of the cathedral will be lit through the long dark nights he has to endure.

Also on the inside of the building and striking on the hour there are miniature knights. They come out from the clock's workings and perform a mock joust, knocking each other from their horses, condemned to an eternal fight in which there will never be a winner.

The inner workings of the clock have had a chequered history. Constructed in 1392, the clock was converted to pendulum and anchor escapement in the 17th century.

Then the original mechanism was given on loan to the Science Museum in London in 1884.

Out of Jack's sight are the external features of the clock on the cathedral's north side. Its outside face has a Latin inscription "Nequid pereat" meaning "That it might not perish" or, as a guide will tell you, "keep busy".

Jack Blandiver certainly does that.

Back In Time

See our previous articles:

The history of Wells Recreation Ground

When fairs were held in Binegar and Priddy instead of Wells