ST ANDREW . WINTERBORNE HOUGHTON . DORSET

GRADE II ✣ C13 origins. Rebuilt 1860s by T H Wyatt, using original material. Perp style with flint, banded brick, and rubble. C15 font. Loose links with owls and Thomas Hardy. A tiny village off the beaten track from Winterborne Stickland (3 scratch dials). 5m SW of Blandford Forum 50.8388 / -2.2566 / ST820043

DIAL

This simple configuration is very close to the category ‘Not-a-Dial’. It is 18″ above ground level, and set into an area of flint. The stone must be a re-sited remnant from the original church or some intermediate restoration. But is it likely ever to have been a marker of the passage of day?

GLP, the expert on the scratch dials of Dorset, puts this dial in the ‘doubtful’ category. He describes the circle with a single line pointing upwards, with a piece of iron (squarish) in the centre. Interestingly, he suggests that the dial might originally have been hand painted rather than having cut lines: there is an example of such a dial at Tolpuddle, quite nearby.

REVERSION

The ‘dial’, reverted, shows that the noon-line extends beyond the circumference, a fairly frequent way of emphasising the importance of that hour. The protruding rusty iron stud is a puzzle. It is accurately centred and perhaps was used to plug a gnomon hole. Possibly it had a purpose as a hook or a hanger now largely rusted away.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Dorset Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen / Rolling Harbour