SOUTH CADBURY Som. – ST THOMAS à BECKET – GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN

DEDICATION † ST THOMAS à BECKET [also ST THOMAS of CANTERBURY] – earliest religious mention DB 1086; building dates from C13 & C15, with C19 restoration

LISTING † GRADE II*

LOCATION † Six miles N. of Sherborne, six miles W. of Wincanton. One of nine ‘Camelot’ churches; situated close to the steep stone track that leads to the impressive iron-age hill fort Cadbury Castle, with supposed (actual?) links to King Alfred. Serious walking country. 51.0277 / -2.5269 / ST631254

South Cadbury, Som. St Thomas à Becket . Scratch Dial

DIAL † Visited by DEH on April 24th, 1914:

172. This dial is on the s.e. corner of the nave. It is 3 feet 11 inches above the ground, the noonline is 4 inches in length, the stylehole is 7/8 of an inch in depth by 1/2 an inch in diameter, and the aspect is s. by 30° e. Type 3

DEH further notes: ‘the noonline in this dial is considerably out of the perpendicular. This is caused by the stone not facing due s. by as much as 30°’ (see large image in Gallery for the angled pocked noon radial)

NOTES † In the Churchyard stands a small armillary sphere dated 1929, on a slender column. The memorial inscription relates to Robert Read, ‘Ironmaster and Ornithologist’, with a charming and original dedication that I will post in other pages (armillary spheres, mottos) in due course