WINTERBOURNE STOKE. WILTS . ST PETER – Multiple Scratch Dials – GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN

ST PETER . WINTERBOURNE STOKE . WILTS

GRADE II* † C12 origins (recorded 1163); C13 expansion; C15 works, additions (tower). Mid-C19 extensive restorations. C12 font. Consecration crosses. 3m W of Stonehenge. 51.1651 / -1.8914 / SU076406

An extraordinary and diverse collection of dials on a lovely church that is a short walk from the dreaded A303. The village is the first traffic choke-point on the road W of Stonehenge. Who would guess, inching forwards in your car where pedestrians daily take a life-or-death decision when to cross, that a lane to the south offers such a rich treat?

DIALS

St Peter is a multiple scratch dial church. Estimates vary of precisely how many: perhaps 8 or 9, depending on individual interpretation. BSS records 4. The range of plausibility covers all bases: obvious dials, probable dials, possible dials, not-a-dials. Some candidates – whole or partial – may simply be decorative. Others look promising but are unlikely to work as dials in design or (present) position. I have grouped various candidates, accepting that my choices may be lightly contentious. Note that I have mostly not specified locations. I started (2 visits) on the SE corner, if that helps. I have given links below with helpful details. Anyway, a multi-dial church is always a pleasing challenge for locating them.

DIAL 1

A simple dial on a RHS window jamb, consisting of 2 circles and a central gnomon hole. The double rings, badly eroded, look compass drawn. There are no visible lines, nor any pocks.

DIAL 2

On a LHS window jamb, a plugged gnomon hole with very little else remaining. Enlarging the image reveals a faint trace of what might once have been a circle; and the ghost of a noon line.

DIAL 3

A much clearer dial on a quoin stone, though quite badly eroded. Originally it was presumably a complete circle of lines with terminal pocks. Only about 12 lines and 9 pocks are visible.

DIAL 4

Another quoin stone dial, with 2 lines emerging downwards from the gnomon hole, diverging either side of noon. L line possibly has a terminal pock; R line is badly eroded, barely visible. It’s hard to make sense of the bent grooves LLQ – somewhat pointless as parts of a dial.

DIAL 5

Dials 5, 6, and 7 are collected together in corner, one above the other. Dial 5 is at the top. Heavy-handed repairs have been carried out in this area. The gnomon hole is in the mortar line, with 4 defined radials and traces of 1 or 2 more. There’s a hint of an arc LRQ, perhaps the remains of a semi-circle.

DIAL 6

The lowest dial of the 3. Again the gnomon is in the mortar line. It looks as though the dial stone must have split vertically at some time. 3 lines LRQ, the noon line less deeply cut. The single line LLQ corresponds to the Mass time Terce.

DIAL 7 (?)

Dial 7 is (as others note) a doubtful dial, and I share reservations. It would certainly work in a most rustic way, with a stick in the large hole and the smaller indentation below denoting noon. However, in a multi-dial church one might expect something rather more complex or decorative..

DIAL 8 (?)

Again, this design is taken to be a dial, which it may well be. I’ve never seen one quite like it, with a short arc at one side with no sign of a semi- or complete circle. The large deep hole has a minimal cut at noon, hardly a call to prayer. I wonder if this is in fact apotropaic in purpose, a protection symbol to ward off evil.

DIAL 9 (?)

I originally discounted this as a dial but reviewing photographs made me look more closely. The slapped-on filler helps to the extent that it suggests a gnomon hole in the mortar line that was large enough to need filling. There is a faint near-vertical that might be a noon line with a pock to mark it; and a hint of a line with a pock at roughly 9 / Terce. Doubtful.

SEMI-CIRCLES

Although these semi-circles are generally included in mentions of the dials of St Peter’s, I have reservations, in particular for the double circle in the fine archway. It is very large for a scratch dial, and the church is quite small to require such a one. There are no marks – radials, pocks, numbers – to suggest use as a dial. I wonder if is an example of simple compass-drawn decoration on a large scale. Also the blocked door and its arch are set back, with a buttress in front on either side. The position is a most unlikely one for enabling the community to mark the passage of the day.

This double semi-circle is more dial-ish, but is still quite large, with (it seems) damage but no relevant dial marks. Too small in diameter to be the other half of the semicircle above.

A segment of a single circle on the edge of a clean-edged stone, clearly re-sited at some time. If a dial, one would expect there to be lines / pocks in the lower half ie from 6 to noon.

NOT-A-DIALS

I include these without conviction that any one of them is a dial. The top one, similar to Dial 8 above and on the same kind of stone, is simply a shallow hole. There’s no hint of another relevant mark.