WYLYE . WILTS . ST MARY – Scratch Dial (1)

Published on by Rolling Harbour

ST MARY . WYLYE . WILTS

GRADE II* † C13 origins; C15 expansion; 1846 rebuilding by Wyatt. Well positioned next to an excellent pub for congregational thirst after righteousness. An ideal peaceful country church, despite being just S of the hectic A303 raceway. 51.1389 / -1.9898 / SU008377

Addendum: just after posting this, I was told of a dial I had missed (thanks, Lee). By coincidence we were driving past Wylye the next day. Separate post for Dial 2 HERE

DIAL

The dial is on the nave wall, tucked away quite low down on E side of the buttress where the tower joins the nave. It is upside down, suggesting that the stone was reused during building work – a plausible theory is that inversion indicated that a dial had outlived its original purpose.

REVERTED DIAL

Assuming a 180º turn, this is an afternoon dial, with the lines in the quadrant R of the noon line indicating the important part of the day for observance corresponding with the canonical hour None.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

2 thoughts on “WYLYE . WILTS . ST MARY – Scratch Dial (1)”

  1. Hi. Thanks for the post regarding Wylye St Mary’s but you missed one. There is a mass dial in poor condition (but at least right way up) with standard three radials in SW quadrant.

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    1. Hi Lee, thanks a lot for this info. I pass by Wylye quite often so I will see if I can find it! St Mary was my first stop after The Bell on a recent Wylye area Dial trip. Maybe I wasn’t concentrating enough… I’ll add Dial 2 in due course – but if you’d like to send an image or 2, I would display with due credit.

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