Walking Through Time

Available for over a year

The corridors of Upton House resonate with the sound of one of the largest collections of clocks in the country, hundreds of beautiful tolling, chiming, ticking masterpieces. With the nights drawing in and leaves falling, this is a meditation on and an immersion in, the passing of time. Starting in the library, the only silent room in the stately home, Dawn Barnes takes us on an acoustically-led journey through corridors of time, from the slow ticking of an ancient longcase clock to the ethereal chiming of a pocket watch. Each clock makes a distinctive song of its own: the rustic ticking of lantern clock, the gossamer movement of a skeleton clock, the leisurely metallic descent of a rolling ball clock. It's a serene voyage through changing fashions, duties, tastes and tones. Led by the new sounds, we journey through the clunking, clicking energy of the electric clock room, pass by the early speaking clocks onto a heaving corridor of turret clocks being wound. The programme builds as Dawn approaches the vaulted grand hall of the Museum of Timekeeping, crossing the gallery landing of hollow chimes, through striking and pealing, whirring and descending, until she reaches the crescendo of the midnight chimes. Producer: Sarah Bowen