SE corner of the Chancel. 8 lines with extended noon line. A morning dial, cut in or near LLQ.
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DIAL 2
SE corner of nave buttress. Worn and at first sight just a gnomon hole near the centre of the stone. On closer examination and despite the lichen, a number of lines can be detected (GLP suggests 7).
❖ ❖ ❖
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DIAL 3
SE corner of nave buttress, immediately above Dial 2 but on a larger and different stone type. Very degraded / eroded, but two downward lines are just visible.
NOTE: GLP, in his comprehensive survey of Dorset scratch dials, considers all 3 dials to be C13
GRADE I † A fine early church in a lovely setting. C11 quoins to nave; C12 nave rebuilt; C14 3-stage W tower, porch; C15 chancel. Later alterations, restorations. Just W of Dorchester, yet seeming miles away in its peaceful valley. Visit Winterbourne Monkton while you are there (2 perhaps 3 dials). 50.7067 / -2.5266 / SY629898
DIALS
Two dials are recorded. I last visited this church more than 2 years ago, in early evening sunshine but with shadows on the church. I have recently been back in better light to re-photograph the main dial; and to check for another rudimentary dial noted on the S buttress of the tower in a 1997 survey. I didn’t find it on my first visit.
DIAL 1
Dial 1 is located on a SW quoin stone of the nave. When examined in the 1990’s it was noted to be ‘behind a drainpipe’, which is no longer the case. By strange coincidence, when I revisited, the rest of the drainpipes were being repaired and repainted.
This is a straightforward 4-line morning dial with a pleasingly casual approach to straight lines. The two deeper incised lines suggest that late morning was the significant time of the day for observance.
DIAL 2
Dial 2 is so simple that I cannot claim to have discovered it this time round. It was recorded as being on S buttress of the tower, with 1 line a mere 45mm long, a small gnomon hole, and a pock LLQ . It was noted in 1997 as ‘very faint’. Although Dial 1 is mentioned in several places (eg BHO), I have found no additional reference to this tiny time marker. So for the second time I failed to find it, even in sunlight. However, a drawing was made and is all I can offer.
Do see the Saxon statue mentioned in the notice below (there is a similar one in Bradford on Avon), and indeed spend some time inside this interesting church.
GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Eroded Dial
GRADE I ✣ Entirely rebuilt in the mid-15th century, incorporating earlier foundations and materials. C15 font and pews. Other details of the interior at BLB. Behind the church are ruins of its predecessor. 51.8001 / -1.5315 / SP324113
St Kenelm . Minster Lovell . ACNY cc/os
DIAL
The dial consists of an incomplete circle of 9 holes, and no radials. There are a couple of eroded marks at the top that might have been linked to the design. A pleasingly small, neat dial.
LOCATION
The dial is on the buttress on L corner of N transept chapel, to the left of entrance porch. It was obviously repositioned at some time, given its orientation and the dissimilarity of the stone to those around it.
GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Relocated Dial
Photos: John Renner with thanks, except 2 ACNY cc/os
Grade I ✣ C12 origin; gradual expansion to C15 (see BHO diagram); C19 restorations. Much of interest within, esp vast mid-C14 Doom wall painting on north wall of nave. Of note: stone bench seats within porch with incised lines where yeomen are reputed to have sharpened their arrows (cf Gnosall Staffs). In 1291 the rectory was valued at £14 13s. 4d. The extremely informative Evenlode Churches website is recommended – a model of its kind. 51.928 / -1.6598 / SP234255
John Renner
DIALS
There are 3 dials in a cluster on W face of the porch. The first is very visible and detailed, undoubtedly the latest. The second is a semi-circle type, fanned out beneath the mortar line. The third is little more than a trace between the two, perhaps a test scratching or passing whim.
John Renner
DIAL 1
John Renner
DIAL 1 has a sizable gnomon hole, enlarged over tIme. The noon line is emphasised by being cut beyond the circle boundary; it also marks Sext. The emphatic horizontal incision RHS suggests that sunset (nocturns; compline) was a significant hour for observance. There are 4, possibly 5, faint lines URQ – probably rustic knife / nail scratchings rather than part of the original dial.
DIALS 2 and 3
John Renner
DIAL 2 has 6 lines radiating from the mortar line. The discrepancy between the line spacing LLQ and LRQ was perhaps an attempt to correct the shadow-fall angle of the sun in the later part of the day.
DIAL 3 is as close to not being a dial as it could be. However, there is a badly cut line at approximately noon; and (anticlockwise) a line approximately at None. There’s also a hint that a gnomon might have been in the vertical mortar line above the horizontal.
GRADE I † Early C12 origins; C13 chancel, tower; C14 / C15 transepts; other works then & later inc C18 spire, C19 restorations. A striking building in a small village just off the A354 Salisbury – Blandford Forum. Clock installed in honour of Winston Churchill 50.9754 / -1.9009 / SU070195
DIALS
All Saints is a multiple dial church, with 8 listed in the BSS records. My dial count is 9. It’s a fine church, and dial-hunting was an easy pleasure. I have decided to let the dials speak for themselves without undue commentary on individual characteristics unless called for. Below the dials is an excellent article by the Hampshire Field Club that analyses all you need to know about each dial, and in particular the locations (for which I lost my notes).
BSS RECORDS
GALLERY OF 8 + 1 DIALS
DETAILED IMAGES
DIAL 1
DIAL 2
DIAL 3
DIAL 4
DIAL 5
DIAL 6
DIAL 7
DIAL 8
DIAL 9
This dial is included in the BSS records (bottom row LHS)
Volume VII Part I.pdf
Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club, XV , Pt. 3, p. 27a.
GRADE I ❖ C12 Norman tower and north nave wall; C13 south aisle and chapel; C14 enlargement, chancel; restorations 1895 by S. Weatherley. Fine C13 font. Most unusual C14 Anchorite cell, definitely in use. Excellent graffiti, in particular several shields. Approved by PEV. Midway between Guildford and Dorking. 51.2191 / -0.463 / TQ074477
DIALS
As with many multiple scratch dial churches, there are differing estimates of the number of dials, in this case of between 7 and 11. Sources vary, as do the eras when researches were carried out: Victoria County History Surrey (1911); D Renn 1986 (detailed survey); BSS 2000 (images – Lester); 2008 (drawings – Wood). I have decided to lead with 8 dials that are (I think) indisputably the real thing. Each is headed by the relevant BSS diagram and all are close to the pre-porch doorway. The close-up photos say as much about each dial than I could usefully describe.
DIAL 1
DIAL 2
DIAL 3
DIAL 4
Unusually, this dial has 3 circles, and incorporates decorative compass work to form 2 petals.
DIAL 5
DIAL 6
DIAL 7
DIAL 8
A simple deeply-scored dial that cuts into a quatrefoil ‘4-leaf cover’ compass design, presumably apotropaic. The church has a great many protection marks of all kinds, together with several shields. I may feature a selection in due course.
DIALOGRAM
The 8 blue-ringed designs below are all dials. The arrowed 9th, LHS, is debatable – see below The arrows RHS indicate (1) probably one of many crosses; and (2) a mystery, see below.
DIAL 9?
Renn’s count of 10 dials includes this ‘lamda’ incision. When I photographed dial 7, only the top of the scar was included. I am a confirmed dial optimist, but it didn’t occur to me to photograph it separately / include it as a dial..
DIAL 10?
Perplexing. An afternoon dial. Noted in Renn’s survey, on which BSS record is based. Described as Inside church (inside S porch). E face of W jamb. Behind door frame. Lines 4. I didn’t find it. Unlike the impressive array of forward- facing dials in the porch, this one must be small, cut on an angle as Renn indicates, and of little use for marking the passage of the day.
ANNOTATED DRAWING
The green circles mark the uncertainties. There is also a suggestion that there were once 2 other dials, now extant (S chancel wall, E pilaster buttress).
REFERENCES
Victoria County History, Surrey, 3 (1911), 120
Renn DF: Scratch Dials in Surrey, Surrey Archaeological Collections, vol 77, 1986
LISTING II* ❖ C13, C15 and early C16, good Victorian and later restorations. A link to the well-presented history of the church and its context in the village is given below. One bell is of particular historical interest. A multiple scratch dial church: BSS records 7 from a 1994 survey. I feature 9 candidates below, of which 2 are probably not-a-dials, leaving 7. But are they the same 7, I wonder? 6m E of Trowbridge. 51.3209 / -2.1195 / ST917579
GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Multiple Scratch Dial Church
All photos: Keith Salvesen [
I am beginning to find my own photos borrowed for online use. I don’t really mind, especially for this sort of niche interest, but a link to this project might be good]
Spetisbury Church as drawn by Thomas Rackett for the 2nd edition of Hutchings’ History of Dorset
ST JOHN THE BAPTIST . SPETISBURY . DORSET
GRADE 1 ✣ Late C12 / early C13 origins; west tower late C15 / early C16. Major mid C19 restorations from 1858 by T H Wyatt, and later works. 3m SE of Blandford Forum. 50.8258 / -2.13 / ST909029
TWO PROXIMATE DIAL-LIKE DESIGNS
The two incised stones are located either side of the drainpipe on S wall of the chancel. Both have 8 segments (as with a Saxon / Tide Dial). A gnomon hole is conspicuously absent from both. There’s no trace of filling. There are one or two pocks on each, but random and with no specific relation to the overall designs.
GLP in his comprehensive survey of Dorset church scratch dials concluded that the dials “…are just graffiti of unknown date”. He explains that he has included these near-matching designs since otherwise “they might be mistaken for genuine dials”.
Apotropaic symbols? These don’t conform to any mainstream style of protection mark. And they are not in a location that Evil would naturally choose to gain entry.
My own theory is that these 2 designs were scratched on adjacent dark stones during the lengthy C19 restoration period. Perhaps there was a small competition between 2 apprentice masons engaged on the work, or bored by it.
DIAL 1
The cruder of the two, with bent lines and an awkwardly gouged curving ‘noon line’.
DIAL 2
More carefully designed and executed than Dial 1, and with the hint of circle round it.
GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Church Graffiti circular pattern; False scratch dials
LISTING Grade I ✣ C12 origins with abbey links; C12 chancel; C13 nave and refenestration, porch; C15, tower. An astonishing church beyond the scope of this project. Besides the building itself, there are wonderful early C14 wall paintings to admire, also C16 wagon roof & C13 coffin lids. Major restoration in 1911. A very unspoilt church retaining many medieval features PEV. In the care of CCT. 5m SE of Blandford Forum 50.8307 / -2.1107 / ST922034
DIAL
A number of features make this dial rather special. It is inside an intriguing church; it is cut into the architrave of a (historically) relocated doorway; and the design is endearingly haphazard. There are 5 radials from the gnomon hole, mainly LLQ from (roughly) Terce to just past midday. The lines are uneven in length, depth, spacing and straightness ,not least because of the oddly squarish perimeter. One can’t tell what lies behind the cement repair, but it doesn’t seem that the perimeter continues beyond what one can see.
BSS Diagrams
APOTROPAIC CIRCLES
There are two circles cut into one of the window jamb, the lowest with a dot in the centre. These are a simple form of protection symbol, repelling evil and preventing it from entering the church. Some theorise that these and more complex designs (eg ‘daisy wheels’) trapped evil within the circle – so-called demon traps.
GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Protection Mark, Apotropaic Symbol
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.
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MUSEUM INFORMATION SHEET
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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.
Second Dial above right?
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THE OTHER THREE SIDES
Gillingham Museum, where the stone is on loan from the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Gillingham.
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 Trust18, 6-7.
David Lloyd – Gillingham Local History Society
Images courtesy Tom Wickson (Dorset Historic Churches Trust)
GAUDIUM SUB SOLE: Scratch Dials & Sundials Medieval to Modern 