For years, Abinger Bottom, deep in the Surrey Hills near Leith Hill, played a vital role in keeping clocks across the UK in time.<\/p>\n
Most people associate Greenwich with timekeeping in Britain, but it was in Surrey that Greenwich Mean Time was kept on track after the outbreak of World War Two.<\/p>\n
Despite no longer being used for the purpose, Abinger was also a testing site for some of the systems that underpin modern timekeeping.<\/p>\n
Ronald McGill, who currently owns the house, told Secret Surrey<\/a>: “There’s all these little pointers of history here.”<\/p>\n He added: “Some of the buildings are quite ramshackle. They had to be very carefully designed, as the instruments had to be suspended to avoid vibrations.<\/p>\n “There’s a real feel of the atmosphere and I like that the house hasn’t been messed around with too much.”<\/p>\n Timekeeping can be a fickle pursuit, McGill said, and the Royal Observatory at Greenwich quickly became a difficult place to keep measurements accurate, as electricity from the railways interfered with the equipment.<\/p>\n In 1940, amid fears the observatory could be a target during the Blitz, timekeeping services were moved to Abinger.<\/p>\n Abinger began as a magnetic observatory in 1924, but the information from the newly-moved timekeeping service helped to governments, navigators, and even the BBC in time with each other.<\/p>\n The familiar six pips of the Greenwich Time Signal, still heard in some of the BBC radio output, would have been maintained from the Surrey Hills.<\/p>\n Abinger used some of the most state-of-the-art technology available at the time, including quartz clocks which paved the way for modern timekeeping.<\/p>\n Nowadays, Abinger Bottom does not keep up its once vital role. Timekeeping was eventually moved to Herstmonceux<\/a> in 1947, and its magnetic work was taken up in Devon.<\/p>\n For Ronald, the site is now just home, and one that he has been happy at for many years.<\/p>\n He said: “I’m going to struggle to leave, we have been very happy here for 30 years.<\/p>\n “I’m sure the next occupants will be very happy here too.”<\/p>\n Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook<\/a>, on X<\/a>, and on Instagram<\/a> and listen to BBC Radio Surrey on Sounds<\/a>. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk<\/a> or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.<\/p>\n More on this storyRelated internet links