Monasteries in the Middle Ages, required to hold services at certain hours of the day and night, originally used water clocks to indicate the time. Later, simple verge escapement mechanical clocks with alarm work were made, and although these are now rare illustrations of them have been preserved in tarsia panels from Italy, one of which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. This shows the clock in a cupboard with a square hole cut below it for the weight cords to descend, and casts light on an item in the records of Battle Abbey, Sussex, in 1512, 'For repairing the clock in the Cubiculo of the Sacristy XXd'.