Palayamkottai Cathedral’s tower clock older than Big Ben of London

2026-02-16 - 11:55

A routine inspection of the tower clock at the historic Holy Trinity Cathedral in Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli, has led to a remarkable revelation: the 171‐year‐old timepiece predates London’s iconic Big Ben by five years. Antique clock collector Robert Kennedy and master clocksmith Nagaraj, invited by the church to assess the clock’s failing chime, found that the mechanism was manufactured in 1854 by John Moore & Sons of Clerkenwell and installed in 1855 making it possibly the oldest functioning tower clock in India.