Old Father Time

This carved wooden figure of Old Father Time used to adorn a bracket clock inside St Giles' Church at Cripplegate in the City of London. The whereabouts of the original clock and the identity of the maker are unknown. St Giles' has had many famous parishioners, including the poet John Milton who is buried there.

Old Father Time is depicted holding a scythe and an hour glass. Two additional hourglasses stand on either side of him (not on display in the gallery). The hourglasses and the scythe symbolise the inevitability of time passing and death.