Christ Church's Tom

Meet Tom, Christ Church's famous clock. He chimes 101 times at 9 o'clock (Oxford Time) each night. This was the time of the centuries-long curfew, designed to separate the students from the townspeople and prevent Town and Gown riots. It should be noted that Oxford Time is five minutes after London time as we are 1 degree west of the Greenwich Meridian.  Legally, Oxford Time no longer exists, since with the advent of the railways it just became too complicated to have different times in every town and railway time (London time) was eventually applied to the entire country.  However, Oxford (and Christ Church in particular) is reluctant to shed its traditions, so Christ Church preserves Oxford Time in the 5 minutes extra it claims before the tolling of Great Tom.

---