Deal Timeball

It was established in 1855 by the Astronomer Royal George Biddell Airy[1] in collaboration with Charles V. Walker, superintendent of telegraphs for the South Eastern Railway Company.

This early form of optical telegraphy was one of a chain of stations between the Admiralty in London and the Naval Yard at Deal.

Its purpose was to allow rapid communication between London and Deal, near the Downs as an important Naval anchorage during the Napoleonic Wars.

In 1805 news of the naval victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson was brought to Deal by the schooner HMS Pickle (after calling at Falmouth), and transmitted by the telegraph to the Admiralty in London.

From 1821 to 1831, the Tower carried a semaphore mast, another form of visual telegraphy which was used signal to ships at anchor in the Downs or passing in the English Channel.