GILLINGHAM in Dorset has a well-curated Museum spanning prehistory to our lifetime. The many and varied displays include a very special one, a handsome carved fragment of an Anglo-Saxon standing cross. Below are images of all four sides of this wonderful stone. It is enhanced by the later addition of an early dial – a Tide dial.

TIDE DIAL

The dial has a complete horizontal (‘6-to-6’) line, an emphatic noon line, and a short deep line corresponding to the canonical Terce, marking the significant part of the day for observance. An arc of circumference is below; there is no hint of a complete circle.

✣

MUSEUM INFORMATION SHEET

✣

DIAL TWO?

Above right on the stone is a smaller hole with (from some angles) 3 very faint lines radiating from it. Very doubtful, but mentioned for completeness. Possibly an imitative attempt by a bored sacristan.

✣

THE OTHER THREE SIDES

Gillingham Museum, where the stone is on loan from the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Gillingham.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Dr John Shepherd: Shephard J F (2023) – Carved fragment from an Anglo-Saxon standing cross and the arrival of Christianity in Gillingham in Annual Report and Review, Dorset Historic Churches Trust 18,  6-7.  

David Lloyd – Gillingham Local History Society

 Images courtesy Tom Wickson (Dorset Historic Churches Trust)

D