Red Lion Square

Did you know that history of positioning was written on this square! The need to be able to calculate longitude at sea became so acute by 1714, that the British Government offered a prize of £20,000 for a solution. An accurate marine clock was thought by some to be the answer and the prize precipitated a surge of interest in scientific horology throughout Europe. The solution was found in London by the century's end. Mariners had no means of finding their longitude at sea. Terrible disasters resulted. In July 1714, the British Government offered a substantial prize for a solution. John Harrison, whose lifetime of experimentation brought him from Lincolnshire to live in London, eventually won the prize. His fourth marine timekeeper and his fifth changed the world. These spectacular instruments were made in Red Lion Square.

Dromos