ST DAVID . BARTON ST DAVID . SOMERSET

GRADE II* ❖ C12 to C15, with major C19 restoration. Local lias stone. Cruciform plan. Tower octagonal, in three stages, probably C15. In an area with several octagonal tower churches, this is the only one with 3 stages. Earliest recorded rector 1309. Close to Keinton Mandeville (2 dials). 3m NE of Somerton. 51.0828 /  -2.6585 / ST539317

DIAL

DEH visited on 26 May 1914. On W side of the blocked doorway on S side of the church, he found a dial low down. He noted a 5 inch noon line and a blocked style-hole in the mortar joint.

Eventually I found the dial, LHS amidst ivy both alive and dead. Its position close to ground level renders it useless for its purpose, yet it doesn’t seem to have been relocated. The ‘design’ consists of 4, perhaps 5, spidery radials descending untidily from the mortar line. It is 100+ years and a lot of ivy since DEH recorded the dial, and we can predict that it will soon be concealed by ivy, or eroded away.

B & W COMPARISON

A fine Squint and a handsome Norman doorway

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Church erosion; Squint; Norman Doorway

All photos: Keith Salvesen / Rolling Harbour except excellent main photo, Geoff Pick / Wiki