TODBER CHURCH . DORSET GRADE II † C15 origins, substantially rebuilt 1879. Surprisingly for a church in a village recorded in DB (Todeberie) 1086, no Dedication. Midway between Shaftsbury & Sturminster Newton. 50.9795 / -2.2865 / ST799200… More
PRESHUTE . WILTS . ST GEORGE – Scratch Dial (unrecorded)
ST GEORGE . PRESHUTE . WILTS
St George is a wonderful church with Saxon origins, C12 foundation, C15 tower; and much T H Wyatt work / restoration mid C19. Treasures include the C12 font, a `truly amazing piece’ (Pevsner) of black Tournai marble. High up on the third stage of the C15 tower is a magnificent C18 sundial: details HERE and an image below.
SCRATCH DIAL
While visiting St George, I decided to have a brief look at the exterior for church marks in general: graffiti, dates, masons’ marks etc. I was not expecting much, in particular because of the extensive C19 work. However on the W end buttress of the C15 tower, facing SW, there was a large incised design worth inspection.
The design is a partial / eroded circle with a central shallow style hole. A noon line extends downwards to the edge of the circle, passing through a pock on the way and ending with a shallow pock. Other pocks mark the approximate edge of the circle on both sides of the noon line. In the lower L quadrant, the pock between the style hole and the pock at the edge of the circle may have been to emphasise the 9-line as indicating the time of a morning Mass, in this case Nones.
The British Sundial Society BSS has considered the evidence and added the Preshute dial to its Mass Dial records. In many ways a lucky find, since I was not looking for nor expecting a dial at all.
ST GEORGE PRESHUTE: C18 SUNDIAL
FULL POST HERE
GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Old Dial
All photos: Keith Salvesen
QUEEN CAMEL . SOMERSET . ST BARNABAS – Scratch Dial(s)
GRADE I . C14 (first record 1291); C15 expansion; late C19 work. See HE for details of this interesting church, with its fine portico. A few miles N. of Sherborne or Yeovil. 51.0225 / -2.5754 / ST597249
DIALS
DIAL 1
The medieval dial is easily found on S wall of the chancel, on the buttress E of the priest’s door. The approximate semicircle embraces an almost compete set of 6-to-6 lines. There are several pocks, large and small. BSS notes include: 1. Worn. Repositioned. Octaval, Tides. 2. Dial (Norman?) with tides, with duodecimal, sometimes both. 3. Mason-cut or roughly scratched. 4. Tide dial, roman numerals, extra line at 7. I have to say (as an amateur) that I can’t match all these features to this dial or either of them if both are being described together (see below).
The dial is large, almost the full width of the buttress. Unusually, it is cut over 4 stones. Note the low pock some way directly below the noon line. Most of the dial is cut on the Hamstone E quoin, the lower rim extending onto the 2 stones below. These stones match those around them. However the L side of the dial is cut on grey stone not matched elsewhere nearby.
I was puzzled by the suggested repositioning of the (entire) dial. An alternative theory might be that the dial was positioned where it is now. Over time, the L side became eroded or damaged and was replaced with a different kind of stone (perhaps being used for repairs elsewhere on the church). The new stone was then cut to match the design of the original. Looked at closely, the ‘new’ L side design does not in fact match the rest accurately. Not all lines follow exactly; there are no pocks; the incisions are clearer. Does this support a later replacement (and possibly harder) stone?
DEH visited in May 1914 and recorded 182. (2) This dial is on the first buttress to the e. of the priest’s door. It is 5 feet 9 inches above the ground, the noonline is 5 1/2 inches in length, the stylehole is 1 1/8 inches in depth by 3/4 of an inch in diameter, and the aspect is s. by 10° e. Type 5c. May 18th, 1915.
DIAL 2
Dial 2 also creates some confusion, not least its location. BSS does not record this dial as a separate entry from Dial 1 but may be referring to it especially in the note 4. Tide dial, roman numerals. Dial 1 does not have visible roman numerals but Dial 2 does.
This dial is located high up above the portico, below the parapet of the nave seen as clerestory with parapet BLB. It is quite damaged, with a modern gnomon and a flaking layer of blue paint that makes it stand out (see header image). It’s hard to date the dial. Similar dated dials in the region are quite often early C18 or even C17. The dial is conventional of its kind, carefully graduated. The numerals are set in a frame, and italicised each side of the noon line.
DEH’s description of his second St Barnabas dial is another puzzle:
181. (1) This dial is on the s.e. buttress of the s. aisle. It is 6 feet 7 1/2 inches above the ground, the noonline is 5 inches in length, the stylehole is invisible, and the aspect is s. by 10° e. The dial is curious, as it has the lines arranged much as they are in an ordinary sundial, with Roman numerals cut at the ends. There may have been a slit for a gnomon, now carefully cemented up. Probably this should not rank as a Scratch dial.
There is a significant problem. The location DEH gives for it, six feet up on a buttress, is totally different from this now blue dial, yet his description broadly matches it and his comment that it probably should not rank as a Scratch dial is clearly apposite. I may have missed a second buttress scratch dial, even though I have been back to check. Or else perhaps DEH made a simple error in compiling his notes of several churches visited at one time in one area (I have come across a couple of similar instances). So this dial, now blue, is the one he meant but mis-located.
GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Old Dial
All photos: Keith Salvesen
EAST CHINNOCK . SOM . ST MARY – 2 Scratch Dials (1 unrecorded)
EAST CHINNOCK . SOM . ST MARY
GRADE II † C14 origins on earlier site; mostly C15 and later C19 work. South porch very simple, possibly C14 BLB. Cinnuc in Saxon times. 4 miles W of Yeovil, attractively set on the steep hillside at the E end of the village though right beside the A30. 50.9164 / -2.7145 / ST498132
DIALS
St Mary has 2 dials. Both are on the S porch, one of the earliest parts of the church. One was recorded by DEH on his visit in June 1915. The other is a new find I believe.
DIAL 1
The dial is halfway up the L side of the porch immediately above a gravestone. It comprises pocks with a large style hole. The pattern is haphazard and the dial might actually make more sense if rotated 90º L, producing a double pock noon line.
DEH 196. This dial is on the w. side of the s. porch, at a height of 4 feet 8 inches above the ground. The noonline is 2 1/4 inches in length, the stylehole is 7/8 of an inch by 1/2 an inch in diameter, and the aspect is s. by 30° e. Type 10. June 15th, 1915.
DIAL 2
Dial 2 is located quite high on the E face of the S porch, a simple 4-line fan dial. The position makes no sense for a sundial, and it was plainly relocated at some stage. In the process, as is often the way, it was inverted. This re-siting with a rotation of the stone retains the decorative feature even though no longer a reliable time indicator. This is the sort of find that reminds me always to search beyond the normal dial locations of porch, buttress and priest’s door.
GSS Category: Scratch Dial
All photos: Keith Salvesen
LES CADRANS SOLAIRES DE COARAZE: CERAMIC TILE SUNDIALS IN PROVENCE
LES CADRANS SOLAIRES: THE CERAMIC TILE SUNDIALS OF COARAZE, PROVENCE
The nine sundials shown below are in Coaraze, a small medieval ‘village perché’ (650m) in the Alpes-Maritimes, Provence, north of Nice. They include sundials by artistic polymath Jean Cocteau (poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, artist and filmmaker); Ponce de Leon; and Henri Goetz, among others. They are located in two places in the village (1) on the front and side walls of the Marie (2) at the top of the village on a south-facing walls in the square in front of the church. They need no interpretation by me: everyone who views these wonderful sundials will experience their own personal response to each one.
MONA CRISTIE – LA CHEVAUCHÉE DU TEMPS
GEORGES DOUKING – LES ANIMAUX FABULEUX
JEAN COCTEAU – LES LÉZARDS
Lizards are the historic symbol of the village
GILBERT VALENTIN – LES TOURNESOLS
FABIENNE BARRE (2008)
On the side wall of the Marie, with a view of the village
ANGEL PONCE DE LÉON – BLUE TIME (1961)
HENRI GOETZ – LE PYTHON ET SA COURONNE EN VERT ET OR (1961)
SACHA SOSNO (2007)
“BEN” – BENJAMIN VAUTIER (2008)
PODIMORE . SOM. ST PETER – Scratch Dial
ST PETER . PODIMORE . SOMERSET
GRADE I. Early C14 on the site of an earlier ?C12 church. Unusual three octagonal stages on the square base of the tower. Porch of significance, with dial by inner door. Church situated close to the N. perimeter of RNAS Yeovilton. Historically spelled Podymore, sometimes adding Milton. 51.0219 / -2.6492 / ST545249
DIALS
St Peter has a fine dial on a quoin stone at E. end of the nave, an unusually complete and very satisfying symmetrical design. DEH records this dial (as does BSS), and also a second dial inside the porch (a feature of churches in the area) that is rather a puzzle.
DIAL 1
There is a full complement of 24 lines, each passing through a pock on its way to the perimeter. The line spacing is regular, each angle at 15º. The style hole is large relative to the careful proportions of the design. Overall the condition is good, the lower half more so than the upper. Some lines pass into (and perhaps beyond) the mortar joints, suggesting that a very strong and weather-resistant mix was used in medieval times (or extreme care taken with mortar repairs).
DEH visited in Oct 1914 and noted that the dial is elaborate and has lines and dots, and is also of unusual pattern. This dial is one of very few photographs included in his book. Note the spelling of the village in the caption. I wonder what kind of camera he took with him on his travels round Somerset?
211. (2) This dial is on a quoin at the s.e. corner of the nave. It is 4 feet 9 inches above the ground, the noonline is 4 1/2 inches in length, the stylehole is 3/4 of an inch deep by 3/4 of an inch in diameter, and the aspect is s. by 15° e. Type 11.
DIAL 2
The dial inside the porch of St Peter is RHS of the door. BLB notes S porch, gabled, with outer 2-centre arch of 2 orders, the outer segmental, and inner plain pointed arch door and a possibly C16 door with old ironwork. The date of the original porch – restored 1871 – that covered the dial is unclear.
The dial, at latch level, is rustic and in poor condition. There are 2 clear lines, with the noon line cut deep at the top then scratched roughly a long way downwards before petering out. There’s no sign of a style hole where the lines meet, so the gnomon was presumably fixed in the mortar line just above. A partial / eroded line at the edge of the lower R quadrant could be consistent with Nones in the canonical Mass.
MYSTERY
A mystery arises from DEH‘s record for this ‘within-porch’ dial: He noted 210. (1) This dial is on the w. side of the inner door of the s. porch. It is 4 feet 6 inches above the floor, the noonline is 1 inch in length, the stylehole is in a joint and filled, and the aspect is s. by 20° e. Type 2. I found no dial in that position nor with that description. My tentative theory is that, very rarely, DEH’s notes of a day’s dialling are unclear; features of one church / dial appear to be ascribed to another nearby. Probably I should return to the area and check the churches for a dial as he describes.
GSS Category: Scratch Dial
All photos: Keith Salvesen
STOCKBRIDGE NEW CHURCH . HANTS . ST PETER – Scratch Dials
STOCKBRIDGE NEW CHURCH . HANTS . ST PETER
GRADE II † Built 1860s in the centre of a pleasant, prosperous small town on the River Test. Fishing tackle emporia, smart gift shops, good restaurants and pubs, predominate. The flinty New Church replaced the crumbling C12 STOCKBRIDGE OLD CHURCH that had fallen into decay and disuse. Its fascinating remnants merit a visit. 51.1145 / -1.4934 / SU355351
DIALS
The excellent resource BRITAIN EXPRESS by David Ross gives a graphic account (below) of the move from the near-defunct medieval church on the edge of the town to the new-build glory in the High Street. Included in the upheaval was a scratch dial on a stone window jamb; and as I recently discovered while locating it, an unobtrusive second dial now on the side of a buttress.
Most of the 12th-century building was pulled down, leaving only the chancel, and a new church in Victorian Gothic style was built on Stockbridge High Street. Reports show that the townsfolk played an active part in transferring monuments, paintings, window frames, corbels, and other pieces of carved stonework from the old church to the new site. People brought their wheelbarrows and trundled down the High street carrying pieces of medieval masonry.
DIAL 1
Dial 1 is on RHS of the double lancet window at the W end of the church. It is inverted, as is often the case with a relocated dial. The window is high enough to be awkward to photograph with only a phone to hand. There are 12 (13?) visible lines, each ending in a pock. Traces of others might be found with closer inspection or a decent photo. The style hole is relatively large, and the lines radiating from it are more or less evenly spaced rather than graduated.
ARG visited Stockbridge in May 1922. He recorded there is a style hole with a line above, and on each side of this four radiating lines. He added it is too high for a photo or for measurement. Which may explain his lower count of radials.
DIAL 2
By complete chance, in walking away from Dial 1, I noticed a small but familiar design in the inside W face of a buttress L of the porch.
This simple dial is unusual in being a quadrant with a quarter-circle border, like a small fan. In relocation, it looks as if it was rotated 90º. It makes most sense that the close-cut double lines originally formed the noon-line and the others mark 3 and 6: an afternoon dial.
GSS Category: Scratch Dial
All photos: Keith Salvesen
COMPTON PAUNCEFOOT . SOM . ST MARY – Scratch Dials
GRADE II* † C15 (C13 origins). Restored and N. aisle added C19. A handsome spired church, unusual in a region where most churches have towers, in the lovely setting of a small hamlet reached by a network of lanes. 51.0337 / -2.509 / ST644261
DIALS
St Mary is a most rewarding church to visit, both the exterior and interior. You will find brief points of note at Camelot Parishes. DEH on his visit in April 2014 recorded 2 medieval dials (2 & 3 below) but there are others, including a more elaborate later one with Roman numerals (C17?) above the porch.
DIAL 1
Dial 1 A very visible 3-line dial on a large stone RHS of the porch. It consists simply of a small style hole with a long noon line and a single line the same length cut on each side. Despite its prominent location, the dial seems largely unremarked though perhaps it is mentioned in the church archives. The actual stone differs from the ones around it – perhaps it was relocated during restoration to a more prominent position on the porch. It is strange that DEH didn’t include this dial in his records for the church.
DIAL 2
Dial 2 is located on the buttress at E end of the nave. It is close to being an ideal dial for study. The style hole is (nearly) centred on the stone. The noon line is not only emphasised, it extends upwards to ‘midnight’. There’s a distinct optical impression of a circle. The horizontal (6-to-6) line extends almost the full width of the stone. Other lines are unusually long, reaching beyond the notional circle. They are carefully graduated to optimise the accuracy of the dial. One mystery is the absence of the 4-line. I couldn’t find a trace of one. It seems unlikely that a single line has eroded completely; but a reason for omitting one line on an otherwise complete and indeed symmetrical dial is hard to think of.
DEH 177. (2) This dial is on the buttress at the s.e. corner of the nave. It is 4 feet 6 inches above the ground, the noon- line is 4 1/2 inches in length, the stylehole is 1 inch in depth by 3/4 of an inch in diameter, and the aspect is s. by 20°e. Type 7. April 24th, 1914.
DIAL 3
Dial 3 is close to the same buttress, smaller, more rustic (earlier) and lower down. There are 9 certain lines and a couple of traces (one possibly above the 6 am horizontal). Their spacing is somewhat random. 4 lines end in pocks.
DEH 176. (1) This dial is on the wall w. of the buttress at s.e. corner of the nave. It is 2 feet 8 inches above the ground, the noonline is 4 1/2 inches in length, the stylehole is open, and the aspect is s. by 20° e. Type 3.
DIALS 4 a – d
Dial 4 This is in fact a dial / dial-related group on a single quoin stone, but treated as a dial unit for convenience. The overall design has 4 elements. There are 3 eroded (part) circles – two overlapping – with a small rough dial within the top circle. In this group of interlinked components, each is of a type often identified either as dials or as remnants of eroded dials. See eg CHURCH STRETTON Such a collection on a single stone perhaps suggests experimentation with dial-making. Or the (part-)circles may simply be decoration or (not unknown) doodles. Anyway, I decided to lump them together as one dial rather than to try to sort out the tangle. Any interpretations would be welcome.
DIAL 5
Dial 5 is a C17 later accurately incised dial on the fine porch above a cusped ogee-arched statue recess with foliated base BLB with its C19 statue of Virgin and Child. This dial is similar to several others in S. Somerset & W. Dorset (some are included under the heading OLD DIALS). The radials are contained within a rectangle, carefully incised and graduated. The noon line is more deeply cut, and leads down from the damaged area at the top of which is a filled style hole. Possibly the area of damage immediately below it indicates that a metal gnomon plate was later fixed there. The frame round the dial shows Roman numerals (IV as IIII) except for noon, which is marked by a cross (a conventional style).
GSS Category: Scratch Dial ; Old Dial
All photos: Keith Salvesen
WEST CHELBOROUGH . DORSET . ST ANDREW – C17 Scientific Dial
ST ANDREW . WEST CHELBOROUGH . DORSET
GRADE I † Early C12 traces, rebuilt and extended C15. S. tower added in 1638. Restored and added vestry C19. 2 bells cast on site in 1275, the oldest in Dorset. Notable C12 font. 50.8467 / -2.6524 / ST541054
SCIENTIFIC DIAL
Once you have located the church at the very end of the hamlet – a dead end – of a very long lane, it immediately looks distinctive. In the present context, the dial on the tower – inscribed on S. parapet William Lardar Esq. Thomas Horsford Warden 1638 – is most unusual, not least because it faces due E.
DEH, in a rare excursion into Dorset while researching the scratch dials of Somerset in 1914, recorded this dial as a C17 scientific dial of 1638: E declining down to midday only. No trace of another dial for later in day.
GLP has written the definitive interpretation of the dial, and I include his complete record which explains the dial far better than I ever could.
It would be good to know if this blade of a gnomon is / may be original and has been (re)painted over the years. Also, to know why special dials were almost always sited next to a drainpipe…
GSS Category: Scientific Dial; Scratch Dial; Old Dial
All photos – Keith Salvesen; record extract – Gordon Le Pard
PRESHUTE . WILTS . ST GEORGE – C18 sundial
SUNDIAL . ST GEORGE . PRESHUTE
High up on the third stage of the C15 tower is a magnificent C18 sundial. A border of Roman serif numerals from 6am to 4pm frame a complex design of carefully graduated radials that mark the hours and the half hours. The large but slender gnomon casts a long shadow.
The imbalance in the hour marks – 6 to the left of the noon line, 4 to the right – presumably arises from the orientation of the church and its relation to the angle of the sun (though that’s probably not the correct technical way to express it).
NOTE there is a plausible medieval scratch dial on one buttress (not as yet recorded). It’s status is under consideration by others… If it is deemed a dial I will write it up separately.
GSS Category: Old Dial
All photos: Keith Salvesen
LILLINGTON . DORSET . ST MARTIN – 3 scratch dials & a theory
ST MARTIN . LILLINGTON . DORSET
GRADE I † C13 origin, chancel & tower C15, porch C17, south chapel C18. Restored 1848. A small hamlet, a fine church, a tithe barn, a manor house. Sir Walter Raleigh prayed here. Perfect rural Dorset – secluded in a valley, reached only by narrow lanes, and very much a longcut for traffic. 2m over the fields from our house, 15+ minutes drive. 50.9127 / -2.5283 / ST629127
DIALS
St Martin has 3 scratch dials, all very different. There is a further contender that I put forward as a plausible but very rare type of dial (with a small degree of approval from BSS).
DIAL 1
Dial 1 is located on the SW. face of the buttress at the W. end of the tower. It consists of a style hole encircled by a somewhat elliptical ring. There are traces of an inner circle or partial circle, clearest seen at the bottom of the dial. GLP describes it as very eroded, and dates it as C15 (ie when the tower was built). He refers to 2 lines but I did not notice them and I can’t pick them out in the photos.
DIAL 2
Dial 2 is at 90º to Dial 1, on the SE. face of the same buttress and indeed on the same stone. There are 5 clear lines radiating from a filled style hole, forming what might be called an ‘afternoon dial’. It’s hard to tell which is the noon line: possibly the lowest lines are angled to allow for the dial not facing due S.
GLP also dates this dial as C15. He notes that it may not be in its original position, or may have been (partly) rotated ‘then it might… have been reasonably accurate’. BSS records ‘possibly re-positioned and rotated’. But because this dial and Dial 1 are on the same stone, rotation may be less likely.
DIAL 3
Dial 3, between of the nave window and the side-chapel, is possibly C13. The chapel, added in C18, shades the dial for half the day. GLP counts 4 lines, at least one ending in a pock, and notes shallow marks between lines possibly marking 1/2 hours. BSS also records 4 lines. I presume the uppermost mark or scar is viewed as subsequent damage. The style hole looks as if it has, or has had, metal in it.
VERTEX DIAL?
On the same buttress as dials 1 & 2 and on the stone immediately below them, is a fairly deep hole drilled precisely and straight into the corner of the stone. Because of the proximity to the other dials at right-angles to each other, I wondered if this strangely-placed hole was also a dial (and if so, whether unique). So I experimented with a stick, with the result shown below. My conclusion is that a prominent gnomon in the vertex would give a clear indication of the passage of time throughout daylight hours. In a way, it might be rather more effective than a normal dial. I could clearly see the shadow from the E. end of the church.
I put the theory out there. As always, any observations would be welcome.
GAUDIUM SUB SOLE: SUNDIALS 