Category: Dorset Scratch Dial

MAIDEN BRADLEY (2) . WILTS . ALL SAINTS – Unusual Diptych Dial

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ALL SAINTS . MAIDEN BRADLEY (∏ Retired QA)

ALL SAINTS . MAIDEN BRADLEY . WILTS

GRADE I ♱ Saxon foundation. C12 (first record 1102) early C14, C15, 1845 restoration. C12 Purbeck marble font bowl. Jacobean box pews. Spiritual home of the Dukes of Somerset, duly commemorated. Original 14th century oak door, fittings. Scratch Dial featured HERE. 7m SW of Warminster. Longleat & Stourhead nearby. 51.1468 / -2.2821 / ST803386

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DIAL

All Saints has an unusual and intriguing double-faced sundial above the porch, thought to be C18. At first sight, looking towards the porch, it could be a cube dial. The 2 sides are at right angles facing SE and SW. Between them, they cover the ‘6-to-6’ time span. There are faint markings on the dial faces – roman numerals, lines (see below).

BSS records two declining dials of similar design believed to be made from one sheet of metal folded at the centre. Between them they show 6am to 6pm in half hours.

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SOUTH ASPECT

It is worth noting that the two gnomons are matched in both style, and position on each face. This is only (I think) possible with equal SE / SW angles. BSS notes SE dial may be ‘slow‘.

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SOUTH EAST ASPECT

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SOUTH WEST ASPECT

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DIAL MARKINGS

A poor photo enlarged, showing the visible markings – lines and the reciprocal roman numerals at the edge of each face.

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SCRATCH DIAL HERE

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

All photos Keith Salvesen except header, Retired QA (OS CC)

SYMONDSBURY . DORSET . ST JOHN – Scratch Dial

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ST JOHN . SYMONDSBURY . DORSET

GRADE I ❖ C14, rebuilt from earlier church (BHO); C15 S porch, C17 chancel rebuilt. Wagon-type nave roof. Gargoyles. An attractive and well-kept church. Also recommended: visit the Symondsbury Estate complex. 2m W of Bridport. 50.7396 / -2.7879 /  SY445936


DIAL

The dial is on E. jamb of the porch entrance. The gnomon hole is in the mortar line, from which 10 lines radiate in a semi-circle. The noon line is terminates in a pock. RHS, is considerably damaged / erosion. Noted by GLP as a very accurate dial.

GSS Category: Scratch Dail; Mass Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

NETHERBURY . DORSET . ST MARY – Scratch Dial

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ST MARY . NETHERBURY . DORSET

GRADE I ☩ C14 nave and aisles; C14/15 chancel; C15 west tower. S porch rebuilt in 1848 (see below). A handsome church with pleasing proportions. 6m N of Bridport, 9m S of Crewkerne. 50.7923 / -2.7528 / SY470994

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DIAL

The dial dates to C15 and is on W jamb of SW window of S aisle. Allowing for damage, it is a (near) semi-circle with 11 lines of varying length. 8 of them have holes, some terminal and some on the longer lines. GLP notes that the dial is extremely accurately drawn. (GLP) The dial is now shaded by the C19 porch that replaced a smaller one.

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GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen; analysis GLP

CHICKERELL . DORSET . ST MARY – Scratch Dial

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GRADE II* ☩ C13 Chancel, Nave; other remnants eg blocked C13 doorway. Later additions and restorations. Fine hexagonal pulpit, one panel carved 1630 RW.IM. With its bellcote, a charming small church. On W edge of Weymouth. 50.6248 /  -2.5048 / SY643806

DIAL

The dial is high up (c 3m) on the chancel quoin stone SE corner. GLP dates to C13. Semi-circular (a hint of a complete circle?), with 13 lines. Some terminal pocks. One line – corresponding with Terce – is deeper incised, with a hole outside the circumference.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

OSMINGTON . DORSET . ST OSMUND – Scratch Dial

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ST OSMUND . OSMINGTON . DORSET

GRADE II* ☩ C15 west tower; otherwise mainly rebuilt 1846 retaining very little of the original church (?Ferry). Set in a pretty village close to the coast that has the feel of an earlier age (in a good way). 5m E of Weymouth. 50°38’45″N /  2°23’29″W / SY724829

DIAL

This unusual dial is cut on the SW buttress of the tower. I say cut, but in fact it is drilled in a complete circle of small holes surrounding a large gnomon hole centred on the dial stone. There are no lines at all (as with eg TRENT AFPUDDLE TINTINHULL).

St Osmond . Osmington – Dial Diagram BSS

In all there are 36 holes that form an irregular circle flattened at the top. The ring of pocks is (unsurprisingly) not entirely accurate, as the diagram above (GLP; BSS) shows.

As for a noon line, I wonder if the short downward line of (apparent) small pocks, below and to the left of damaged area, mark noon. It’s not vertical, but the design of the dial and its position on the SW face of the buttress perhaps called for a slightly offset noon marker.

The gnomon hole has clearly been enlarged at some time, and sufficiently so to provide a modern home for small snails.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Scratch Dial (pocks only)

All photos: Keith Salvesen

LEIGH . DORSET . ST ANDREW (2) – Unrecorded Scratch Dial

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DEDICATION † ST ANDREW – C15, mid-C19 restoration; C13 font

LISTING † GRADE II*

LOCATION † 5 miles SW of Sherborne, a sprawling village set deep in farming country. Some fine old buildings dating from C16, now mixed in with modern housing. A fine village cross with C15 shaft. A friendly very rural place. No street lights. 50.8762 / -2.5445 / ST617086

In the early days of this site when I was researching scratch dials close to us in Dorset, I discovered that our own village church had one that was already recorded. It didn’t look very ‘dial-ish’ so I was pleased to find an authoritative drawing of it by GLP. My original post is HERE and see below for an image.

ST ANDREW . DIAL 2

The dial is semicircular, RHS of the porch, and just below Dial 1. The gnomon hole is in the mortar line, and plugged. The horizontal mortar line acts as a ‘6-to-6’ line, split by the vertical noon line. This is deeper incised than the three other visible lines.

DIAL 1

Original post HERE

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

MILTON ABBAS . DORSET – Two Scratch Dials

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MILTON ABBAS . DORSET

Milton Abbey, more properly called ‘The Abbey Church of St Mary, St Sansom* and St Branwalader**, is a former Benedictine monastery founded in c10. The present building dates from the c14 and c15. The Abbey, with a post-reformation country house attached where the monastic buildings used to be, is now a school. 

DIALS

The Abbey has two dials, both on the S face of the SE turret at the end of S transept. Dial 1 – the most intriguing – is some 3m high. Dial 2 is 1m below it, and lichen makes reading it very difficult. Both dials were recorded in 2000 as C14. Dial 1 is unusual, not least because of its condition after C7s.

DIAL 1

Dial 1 is inverted, clearly repositioned. Within a double semicircle are 13 lines radiating from a large filled gnomon hole. Within the 2 rings, each line terminates in a black letter Roman numeral. BSS records these as (with the dial reverted) Il V VIll IX X – space – II IlI IIII V VI Noon is unmarked but extends slightly beyond the outer circle.

DIAL 2

Dial 2, now significantly obscured by lichen, has 20 lines, again with Roman numerals. Only numerals XI I Il III IV and V were recorded as visible in the 2000 survey. Now, only III can be easily seen. The filled gnomon hole is notably L of centre of the dial stone which is significantly cut off LHS, indicating relocation at some time in its history. Possibly there were other numerals at the end of the truncated lines.

*St Sansom: C6 French Bishop and (later) hermit. A Scilly Isle is named after him. An excellent example of a wandering Celtic monk (ODS). Some relics acquired by King Athelstan for Milton.

**St Branwalader: C6 monk. In early C10 King Athelstan obtained his relics and gave them to the monastery at Milton, Dorset. It was not the whole body but either an arm or his head (ODS)

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Abbey Dial; Roman Numeral Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen; sources include BBS, GLP; and Oxford Book of Saints

BATCOMBE . DORSET – ST MARY MAGDALENE (2) . SCRATCH DIAL (unrecorded)

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Batcombe . Dorset . St Mary Magdalene

DEDICATION † St Mary Magdalene. C15 (on the site of a ?C11 church). Mid C18 rebuilding / restoration (after collapsed chancel). A few early fittings. Screen, font, bells, wall tablets of note. Fragment of stone in middle S. buttress of chancel with pre-conquest interlacement BHO.

LISTING † Grade I (Pevsner Dorset 106; BHO)

LOCATION † Remote extended hamlet deep in farming country a few miles SW. of Sherborne and NE. of Dorchester. Nestled under the north flank of a long ridge. Reached by lanes to N. and a very steep narrow lane down from the ridge. The church is immediately below, set into the hillside. 50.8331, -2.543, ST618038

DIAL 2 (new record)

A while ago, I featured a dial, not previously recorded, on the SW face of the LHS buttress by the entrance door. We live close to St Mary but I had never noticed the dial until I saw it in direct evening sunlight, spotting the filled gnomon hole first (see below).

On a visit to the church last week, I looked more carefully at the S doorway. And there was another dial, LHS, that I (and others) had overlooked. It’s a much clearer dial than the first.

St Mary Magdalene . Batcombe . Dorset – Scratch Dial 2

The filled gnomon hole is in the upper half of the dial stone. There are 6 / 7 lines, one with an apparent terminal pock. There is no clear noon line, but the lines from 9 to 12 suggest a significant time of the day for observance. The deeper none line may also mark a mass time mid-pm. There is a very distinct line URQ that ends in a pock but can have had no meaningful role in marking the passage of the day.

More details of the first dial are HERE

Batcombe . Dorset . St Mary Magdalene . Scratch Dial 1

NOTES † A small ritual protection mark – a tiny shield-shaped face – R of the entrance door. Such apotropaic symbols were carved or scratched usually by a door or window or in the porch to prevent evil from entering the church and to repel it from the vicinity.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial

All photos Keith Salvesen

IWERNE MINSTER . DORSET . ST MARY – Scratch Dial

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ST MARY . IWERNE MINSTER . DORSET

GRADE I ✣ C12 origins & remnants; C13 – C15 enlargement; C19 restorations (Wyatt). One of only 3 Dorset (early) churches with spires, with Trent and Winterbourne Steepleton (the Dorset village of Steeple only has a tower). The spire was originally much taller but has twice been reduced in height. The most important and interesting church in its neighbourhood PEV. If you want to dig deeper there are plenty of excellent resources online eg HE, BLB, BHO. Midway between Shaftsbury and Blandford. 50.9295 / -2.1887 /  ST868144

DIAL

The dial is located on the SW buttress of the tower, about 2m high. There are 12 lines, 6 of which extend beyond the circumference. Some have terminal pocks; the noon line has 2. GLP notes that the dial is quite accurately cut, but is at an angle and of little use in its present position. Probably it was relocated during later work.

GLP dates it to C14, and notes quite sternly that, whereas RCHM suggests perhaps C16, it gives no reason for this opinion.

GRAFFITO ON THE STONE BENCH INSIDE THE PORCH: W.D. 1773

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Dorset Church with Spire

All photos: Keith Salvesen; Thanks as always to Gordon le Pard for Dorset dials

HILTON . DORSET . ALL SAINTS – Vertical Dial (1690); Date Stones (1569); Scratch Dial

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GRADE I † C12 origins (?); C15 inc tower & porch; C16 rebuilding / additions. Material from nearby Milton Abbey incorporated. C19 restorations. In proximity, a fine early vertical sundial (1690); 2 date stones (1569); scratch dial (probable?). Several excellent gargoyles N side. 2m W of Milton Abbey. 50.8259 / 2.3114 / ST781029.

VERTICAL DIAL

A fine dial in very good condition for its age. The gnomon is an amusing extension of the sun’s nose. I took the design LL corner to be an hour-glass, which would be appropriate. In close-up I wonder if it is a religious symbol; and if the design LR corner is a square and compass.

DATE STONES

THE BAGPIPER

SCRATCH DIAL

The dial design of a double circle with a hole in the centre is far from unusual. No lines, no pocks; just a stick needed to mark the passage of the day. This type is generally included in the Scratch / Mass Dial category of church marks; and I go along with that. However, having recently researched Cyffe Pypard and Fovant (both Wilts) which have several dials including this design, I am beginning wonder. It’s hard to think of a reason why a dial-cutter would not to add lines, pocks or both to a device specifically made to mark the passage of the day. But what if these are apotropaic symbols cut into the walls of the church to catch evil: ‘Demon Traps’ from which, once entered, encircled evil could never escape?

GSS Categories: Vertical Sundial; Old Sundial; Date Stones; Gargoyles / Hunky Punks; Scratch Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen