MILTON ABBAS . DORSET

Milton Abbey, more properly called ‘The Abbey Church of St Mary, St Sansom* and St Branwalader**, is a former Benedictine monastery founded in c10. The present building dates from the c14 and c15. The Abbey, with a post-reformation country house attached where the monastic buildings used to be, is now a school. 

DIALS

The Abbey has two dials, both on the S face of the SE turret at the end of S transept. Dial 1 – the most intriguing – is some 3m high. Dial 2 is 1m below it, and lichen makes reading it very difficult. Both dials were recorded in 2000 as C14. Dial 1 is unusual, not least because of its condition after C7s.

DIAL 1

Dial 1 is inverted, clearly repositioned. Within a double semicircle are 13 lines radiating from a large filled gnomon hole. Within the 2 rings, each line terminates in a black letter Roman numeral. BSS records these as (with the dial reverted) Il V VIll IX X – space – II IlI IIII V VI Noon is unmarked but extends slightly beyond the outer circle.

DIAL 2

Dial 2, now significantly obscured by lichen, has 20 lines, again with Roman numerals. Only numerals XI I Il III IV and V were recorded as visible in the 2000 survey. Now, only III can be easily seen. The filled gnomon hole is notably L of centre of the dial stone which is significantly cut off LHS, indicating relocation at some time in its history. Possibly there were other numerals at the end of the truncated lines.

*St Sansom: C6 French Bishop and (later) hermit. A Scilly Isle is named after him. An excellent example of a wandering Celtic monk (ODS). Some relics acquired by King Athelstan for Milton.

**St Branwalader: C6 monk. In early C10 King Athelstan obtained his relics and gave them to the monastery at Milton, Dorset. It was not the whole body but either an arm or his head (ODS)

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Abbey Dial; Roman Numeral Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen; sources include BBS, GLP; and Oxford Book of Saints