It is housed in one of the oldest buildings in the college, King Edward's Gate, also known as the clock tower.
[1] This peculiarity was noted by William Wordsworth in his autobiographical poem:[2] Near me hung Trinity’s loquacious clock, Who never let the quarters, night or day, Slip by him unproclaimed, and told the hours Twice over with a male and female voice.
A common myth claims that the clock strikes the hour twice, because the fellows of St John's College once complained about its noise.
King Edward's Gate, in Trinity Great Court, otherwise known simply as the clock-tower, is one of the oldest buildings in the college.
[5] The clock is governed by a temperature-compensated pendulum, 2 metres in length, driven by a three-legged gravity escapement.