Medieval Sundials – GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN

NORTH CADBURY . SOM . ST MICHAEL – Scratch Dials

Published on March 18, 2023March 18, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

GRADE I † Mainly early C15, some older fragments; later restorations. A huge church for a small village. Simon Jenkins awards it ** and with good reason. Wonderful bench ends, not to be missed. See BLB for more. Midway between Wincanton and Ilchester. 51.0417 / -2.5214 / ST635270

DIALS

DEH visited in April 1914 and recorded 3 dials, all on S facing buttresses, one close to the priest’s door. They are very eroded. There are possible remnants of 2 further dials, mentioned below.

DIAL 1

St Michael . North Cadbury . Som. – Scratch Dial

DEH 169. (1) This dial is on the first buttress w. of the s. porch. It is 5 feet above the ground, the noon line is 4 inches in length, the stylehole is 5/8 of an inch in depth by 1/2 an inch in diameter, and the aspect is s. by 15° e.

Located on the buttress W of S porch. An obvious style hole with a semicircle (6 – 6) of unobtrusive small pocks. Photography has its limitations and St Michael tested them. Records mention 13 to 16 pocks. One can just make out the faintest of traces of lines at noon and 2.

BSS suggests a possible dial immediately above. Assuming a style hole in the mortar line, there are a few pocks in the immediate area, but rather disorganised. Doubtful rather than plausible.

DIAL 2

DEH 170. (2) This dial is on the first buttress E. of the s. porch. It is 4 feet 10 inches above the ground, the noon line is 3 inches in length, the style hole is about 11/2 inches in depth by 3/4 of an inch in diameter. The aspect is s. by 15° e.

As with Dial 1, very eroded and with little visible detail even when one is quite close. There are 8 detectable lines with a perimeter of pocks, probably (BSS) 13 with extra pocks at 8.30 and 10.30 – presumably Mass indicators.

DIAL 3

DEH 171. (3) This dial is on a buttress e. of the priest’s door. It is 5 feet 8 inches above the ground, the noon line is 4 1/4 inches in length, the style hole is 7/8 of an inch in depth and 1/2 an inch in diameter, and the aspect is s. by 15° e.

Situated on S side of the chancel, on the buttress E of the Priests’ door. There are 13 lines and a full complement of 24 pocks. The line angles are at approx 15º intervals. BSS notes a possible ‘tiny dial’ above it.

MEDIEVAL GRAFFITI

The porch contains the original stone benches on either side. These are often troves of graffiti, in particular apotropaic symbols and other ritual protection marks designed to repel evil or to prevent its entering the church. These signs are quite common to find in other locations both outside and inside a church (see HERE). However, in many churches, stone benches were replaced in succeeding centuries. St Michael has retained the benches, on which there are excellent examples of marks that are relatively rare. There are hands here, and a medieval swastika (a Sanskrit word) from several centuries before its more recent symbolic adoption. It incorporates a repelling circle mark, where evil may be captured within its continuous circumference.

GSS Category: Scratch Dials; Mass Dials; Bench Ends; Medieval Graffiti; Apotropaic Symbols

All photos: Keith Salvesen

BASILICA di SANTA MARIA NOVELLA . FLORENCE – MERIDIAN DIAL

Published on March 13, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

Santa Maria Novella, one of the most sublime churches in Tuscany, needs no general introduction. The Wiki article SMV gives a very good overview. The focus of this article is on the amazing meridian dial inside the church itself.

First, I should mention the 2 famous dials on the facade, the subject of much interest, investigation, and analysis including detailed articles by BSS. I plan to feature both separately in due course. On the left is an armillary sphere; on the right is an astronomical quadrant. They are the work of Egnatzio Danti, astronomer to Cosimo I, and were installed c1570.

*Armillary Sphere & Astronomical Quadrant on the Facade (Egnazio Danti c1570)* *cc os*

The Museo Galileo has a comprehensive website here MG and is a superb resource for historical science. Exhibits include 2 of Galileo’s telescopes. In 2007 it held a remarkable dial-based exhibition called The Line of the Sun. The entry for SMN includes all 3 dials and gives a succinct account of their creation and significance. I am adapting / adopting some entries from the museum’s explanations.

MERIDIAN DIAL

Background: Between 1572 and 1575, the cosmographer Egnazio Danti (1536-1586) installed on the façade of Santa Maria Novella no less than three astronomical instruments: a great quadrant with sundials; an equinoctial armillary; and two ‘camera obscura gnomons’. These instruments were designed to be used for new astronomical calculations linked to the project for reforming the Julian calendar…

Meridian Dial: Although Danti designed the dials he was unable to complete the tracing of the meridian line on the floor of the church. He only opened gnomonic holes, first in the glass of the rose window, then on the church’s façade, much higher, and made two openings in the vaulting as well, through which rays of light would pass only during the equinoxes and the winter solstice.

Operation: The entrance of the sunbeam was through the two gnomonic holes. The pinhole on the rose-window would have allowed [the measurement of] time during the entire year. The pinhole on the façade would have allowed the same reading only in the days of the equinoxes and of the winter solstice (IMSS Multimedia Laboratory).

FACADE POSITIONS

Gnomon holes on the facade in the rose window (70′ high) and just below the pediment

MERIDIAN DIAL IN DETAIL

Basilica of Santa Maria Novella . Firenze . Meridian Dial – Keith Salvesen

REFERENCES / CREDITS

MUSEO GALILEO

Wiki cc – header image / close-up

‘photo tsettle’ – gnomon hole positions

All dial photos – Keith Salvesen

COOMBE BISSETT . WILTS . ST MICHAEL & ALL ANGELS – Scratch Dials

Published on March 8, 2023March 21, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST MICHAEL & ALL ANGELS . COOMBE BISSETT . WILTS

GRADE 1 † C12 south aisle, 2 Norman arches; C13 chancel; C14 tower; C15 nave & north transept. Restoration 1845 by T. H. Wyatt. Early (C12?) font carved from a single piece of Jurassic limestone. One of several fine Chalke Valley churches situated south of the A30 between Shaftesbury and Salisbury. It’s an attractive long cut between the two. 51.0361 / -1.8473 / SU108263

DIALS

On the S-facing central buttress of the tower there are two adjacent scratch dials on the same stone that merge. It isn’t immediately clear (to me) which came first. Whichever, presumably the time came as the church developed when more accuracy in marking the day’s passage was required.

BSS references a 3rd dial on S wall. Other records mention two scratch dials and one sundial on south side. See below for an attempt to ID the sundial.

DIALS 1 (L) & 2 (R)

Coombe Bissett . Wilts . St Michael – Scratch Dials

Dial 1 is recorded as: Irregular dial with 15° lines in both quadrants.

Dial 2 is noted as: Cannot be classified. Eroded, damaged. Mass or line deeply cut.

My visit was early evening, and the quality of the detail in my photos is unimpressive (see above). For example, there is only the hint of the part-circle of Dial 2. Fortunately, this is a church that another dial collector has visited and later he uploaded his photos to BHO / Disqus. Mark Wolstenholme’s excellent images give a much clearer and sharper view of the details of both dials and their intersection.

DIAL 3 (?)

Another dial is recorded as being on the tower, S wall, a short distance W of the ‘dial buttress’ above. The description states Early Christian ‘Tombstone’ dial. Accurately cut or made. Modern replacement. I found this baffling, and the only conceivable candidate I could find in the area may or may not fit the bill. Somehow I doubt it. Suggestions of its purpose would be welcome…

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

Photos: Keith Salvesen; special thanks to Mark Wolstonholme who uploaded his detailed photos to the BHO site os and to Disqus os

KIMPTON . HANTS . ST PETER & ST PAUL – Scratch Dials

Published on March 5, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST PETER & ST PAUL . KIMPTON . HANTS

GRADE I † C13, C14, C15, C18; C19 works & restorations. Cruciform, with a south aisle to the nave, south porch, and western tower. Single cell nave and chancel of c1220. Blocked north door in the nave. Unusual C19 2-stage tower is pleasingly incongruous. 6m W of Andover, just N of the dread A303. 51.2181 / -1.5988 / SU281466

DIALS

BSS records from 2013 are based on a survey in 1995 which mentioned 2 dials quite close to each other on SE angle of S transept. For both dials BSS notes: Known only from reference. No other details. No longer extant.

ARG made the original record on his visit in July 1925, noting one dial and a doubtful one, both on the SE angle of S transept. His descriptions are as follows:

DIAL 1. On the large quoin on SE angle of S transept... late C14. He described it as an imperfect dial, with some lines LLQ, 4 of which ended in pocks; and some pocks LRQ with 2 lines extending beyond them.

DIAL 2. Noted as close-by and slightly doubtful, with a very small style hole and perhaps 3 lines on the lower half.

I found nothing to match ARG’s descriptions but I did find a plausible and a doubtful dial in the same general area.

DIAL 1

This stone doesn’t match the others in the immediate vicinity, and gives the distinct impression that it has been relocated and probably resized to fit. I think it plausible to claim this as a crude and eroded dial with traces of stubby lines in the noon area. It looked quite convincing on the day. Possibly it was relocated to a more prominent position, whether as a working dial or perhaps as a decorative quirk.

DIALS 1 & 2 – LOCATION

St Peter and St Paul. Kimpton . Hants – Two adjacent scratch dials. Possibly.

DIAL 2

This design is on a long stone close to Dial 1. Image 1 shows the stone as it is, horizontal. The 4 graduated dents caught my eye, being clearly created for a reason. There’s a slight curve to them; and a patch of cement that may (as elsewhere) fill a gnomon hole. Also – revealed in close-up – there is undeniably a deliberate thin straight line that comes directly from the hole (if it is / was one).

Rotating a photo of a dial can be useful in interpreting it (Images 2 & 3). A 90º turn here reveals a slightly more meaningful dial design. That said, to work as a dial stone, the long horizontal block would have had to be relocated from a place where it was vertical.

St Peter & St Paul . Kimpton . Hants – print (BHO)

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Medieval Sundial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

BINSEY . OXFORD . ST MARGARET of ANTIOCH – 2 Scratch Dials

Published on March 2, 2023March 2, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST MARGARET of ANTIOCH . BINSEY . OXFORD

GRADE I † C12 origins on site of Saxon church; c13 rebuilding (chancel, nave), S porch added; C15 & later restorations (latest in 1936). Unheated and candlelit until 1975. Much of interest – remarkably secluded location, a Holy well, a direct link with Alice in Wonderland, an excellent riverside pub. Within ring road W of Oxford, N of Botley Road, at the end of a mile of narrow lane. Check a map before you go… 51.7691 / 1.2976 / SP485080

❖ The clearest illustrated article about St Margaret, its history, and its significance can be found at David Ross’s excellent BRITAIN EXPRESS. This includes the sad story of the celibate St Frideswide (C7), Patron Saint of Oxford and a roundabout system, & her suitor Algar. It also covers the origins of the Holy well, its healing powers and its link to Alice’s ‘treacle well’. An informed tour of the church ends with helpful directions to it.

DIALS

DIAL 1

On the quoin RHS of the porch entrance, with a large slightly recessed gnomon hole. A morning dial, very eroded in the 3 other quadrants. Originally encircled (BSS)? The visible evidence of a complete circle is scant. 8 lines, some extending over split stone. The noon line is emphasised – longer and deeper cut. A hint of double pocks at lower end – just possibly a dotted cross ✣?

DIAL 2

Located on the nave buttress adjoining the chancel. 4 lines radiating from a central hole in the dial stone, one slightly curved; 7 clear pocks all on or at the end of the lines. Unlike dial 1, there is no exact vertical line. The puzzle is to identify the noon line. On some dials, there is a notional noon line formed by a narrow gap between 2 near-vertical lines – not the case here. Presumably it is line 2, being extended and having 2 pocks. Line 3 is too flimsy for the task. Line 1 presumably marks a service time between Terce and noon.

ST MARGARET’S WELL

GRAFFITI ANCIENT & MODERN

There is a certain amount of graffiti in the porch, some of which is not medieval. Included are initials, 2 (unconvincing?) inverted Marian marks; and some scratchings of hard-to-decipher script, something I haven’t often seen.

After your visit you may need refreshment: I recommend the excellent nearby PERCH INN

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Medieval Graffiti

All photos: Keith Salvesen

COWLEY . OXON . ST JAMES THE APOSTLE – Scratch Dials

Published on February 27, 2023February 28, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

St James . Cowley . Oxford (Parish Website – link below)

GRADE II* † Mid C12 – C15; early frescoes; 1860s work by G.E. Street with additions & rebuilding. Remarkably squat tower, C15. Unexpectedly up a secluded narrow lane just E of the bustle of Cowley – no one would guess that there is a C12 building there. 51.7306 / -1.2197 / SP539038

DIALS

There are 2 dials, both inside the porch on either side of the entrance door. Disappointingly the porch gate was locked, so I could not get access. The photos of the pair taken late in the day are distinctly underwhelming…

DIAL 1

Dial 1 is inside S porch LHS of the doorway, in the corner below the springing of the arch and above the moulding. 4 lines radiating from the style hole, with the noon line deeper cut.

DIAL 2

Dial 2 is also inside S porch, RHS of the doorway and above the capital of the pillar. There are 6 lines radiating from a quite noticeable style hole. BSS suggests there are 3 pocks (possibly more), though I could not see those details.

OTHER MARKS

Besides the dials, there was a certain amount of graffiti with other scratchings in the area of the porch, not all of it medieval. There are a couple of Marian marks and what may be a very crude pentagram, a symbol to repel evil.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

All photos (for what they are worth) Keith Salvesen except header image from St James Parish website (their excellent photo replaces my poor ones taken from a different angle); and BSS (2 images)

STRATTON-ON-THE -FOSSE . SOMERSET . ST VIGOR – 3 Scratch Dials

Published on February 22, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

GRADE 1 † C12 origins; mainly C14; much rebuilt C15/C16; further rebuilding late C18; restoration C19. One of only two churches with this Dedication (Fulbourne Cambs is the other). A pleasing and unpretentious church. Very close to Downside Abbey/. 51.2552 / -2.4896 / ST659507

DIALS

Downside Abbey was home to Dom Ethelbert Horne, the pioneer dial collector and analyst who covered Somerset with skill and determination, using a motorcycle to get around. He began the project in 1913, and recorded the dials at St Vigor on Nov 3 – perhaps they were his first finds. His book with its careful explanations is a vade mecum for any dial enthusiast (even one with no connection with the County).

DIAL 1

Dial 1 is located at SW corner of the nave, high up (7′) on a quoin stone. DEH noted The Mass line in this dial is sharp and distinct, and made at a different time from the other lines. He makes no comment on the design. There are 6 lines each with a terminal pock, with hints of a couple more. DEH makes no mention of a gnomon, but with his usual thoroughness measured the depth of the hole. It is certain, therefore, that the existing (copper?) rod was inserted relatively recently.

DIAL 2

Dial 2 is on the buttress between S porch and E end of the nave. DEH commented: Encircled. No hour lines can be seen on this ancient and badly worn dial. the remains of 2 circles close apart. Were it not for the noticeable gnomon hole, it would be easy to pass this one by.

DIAL 3

To be found on the W side of the entrance to S porch, 3′ 3″ high. Or so noted DEH very specifically. He mentions a style hole and a noon line 3½” long, but I spent some time examining this area and indeed the corresponding position on E side of the doorway (because field notes are occasionally confused), with no convincing dial identifiable. Here are photographs of the location, for what they are worth…

DEDICATION

In C6 there was a ‘hermit preacher’ and Christian missionary who became Bishop of Bayeux. He died c537 AD and was canonized as St Vigor (Lat.) or in due course Saint Vigeur (Fr.). The Norman conquest brought his followers to England and his name first appears in an eleventh-century breviary at Worcester.

Another account is that in the early C12, manorial rights for Stratton passed to a Norman family who came from Saint-Vigor-le-Grand, Normandy.

ST VIGOR IN FRESCO

Frescoes at the Churches of St Vigor Ste Suzanne Les Coevrons, and St Vigor de Neau cc / os / tourisme

GSS Category: Scratch Dials

All photos Keith Salvesen; St Vigor as credited; source material Bath Record Office, Wiki

QUARLEY . HANTS . ST MICHAEL – Scratch Dial

Published on February 11, 2023February 12, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

GRADE II* † Cll Saxon / Norman origins with simple nave – some features survive; C15 chancel; later additions / restoration 1882. A most surprising Palladian / Venetian E window. Detached timber-framed bell cote. Attractively set in a well-wilded churchyard. 6m W of Andover. 51.1944 / -1.611 / SU272439

DIAL

The dial is on the W jamb of the window E of the porch, first recorded by ARG in 1925. The gnomon hole is filled. ARG’s description is below. The more recent BSS entry records 19 visible / detectable lines and 21 pocks, with possible hints of a circle. On either view, this is an eroded 24-hour dial (esp URQ), with noon marked by a quincunx (like 5 on a die), which I haven’t seen before. One puzzle is why the dial was cut in such a position that it is truncated RHS.

ARG noted two very doubtful dials on the E jamb of the same window; and in his text he refers to another doubtful on the buttress of the S Chapel. I couldn’t make out dials.

*St Michael . Quarley . Hants – Scratch Dial* *with Quincunx*

There was another mark that caught my eye, a small uneven circle of pocks. There’s no hint of a central hole. As I visit more churches, I see more of these little markings. They can’t be dials, and they seem unlikely to be purely decorative. My tentative theory is these little pock circles are a form of protection mark / apotropaic symbol). However I haven’t yet found such a design featured in the usual medieval building mark resources. Any theories welcome.

*St Michael . Quarley . Hants – circle of pock marks*

GSS Category: Scratch Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

MILBORNE ST ANDREW . DORSET . ST ANDREW – 3 Scratch Dials

Published on January 27, 2023January 27, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST ANDREW . MILBORNE ST ANDREW . DORSET

GRADE II* † C12 origins; tower & S porch C15; chancel, vestry, south aisle and chapel c1876 (G E Street). Wonderful C12 inner door with chevrons, shielded by porch; C12 font with a story to tell (below). A charming and very Dorset church. 4m SE of Bere Regis; 10m NE of Dorchester. 50.7759 / -2.2833 / SY801974

DIALS

St Andrew has 3 dials. Dial 1 is a true scratch dial located in the NE corner of the nave, as is Dial 2 on the stone below (largely obscured by lichen, easy to overlook). Dial 3 is a transitional dial above the porch entrance.

DIAL 1

Dial 1 is easily identified by its prominent filled gnomon hole from which 3 lines radiate in LLQ. There is also a perimeter curve of 5 (?6) pocks (diag).

DIAL 2

St Andrew . Milborne St Andrew . Dorset – Dials 1 & 2, NE corner of the nave

Dial 2, on the stone immediately below Dial, 1 has no discernible lines. BSS records 5 pocks of varying size that are (given the lichen) more or less visible seen in conjunction with the BSS diagram below. They are basically shallow dents, in contrast to the ‘drilled hole’ type of pock usually encountered.

St Andrew . Milborne St Andrew . Dorset – Scratch Dial 2

DIAL 3

A transitional dial above the archway of the C15 S porch. Accuracy in marking the passage of time became increasingly important, not least with the advent of clocks. Dial design and construction involved taking a scientific approach to making time-telling more reliable and more legible. St Andrew is a good example. Rather than being scratched directly onto a stone intrinsic to the church structure, this dial stone is on what BHO describes as a square raised panel.

The dial has slightly angled edges with ‘extensions’ on both sides. It is not canted, so probably faces due S. It is a six-to-six dial with – originally – 12 lines (14, with the horizontal as 2). The hours 4 & 5 are cut deeper, perhaps denoting the most important Mass of the day. Some lines have weathered away in part or completely. There are a number of pocks. The recorder noted 4 trace (semi-)circles, one being close to the gnomon hole. The original gnomon was in the upper hole where there is now a square stub of iron rod. The lower arrangement indicates, I think, a later conversion / updating from a simple rod gnomon to a ‘proper’ one that required a footing; and perhaps a lamp bracket.

RARE FEATURE It’s not completely clear from my rather poor iPhone photos, but if you look carefully at the edge R side where there is the wide margin, you can see that the lines marking 4 & 5 extend onto the side of the dial face and continue down the side of the stone panel. Those short lines are visible from the side even if the rest of the dial is not. I wouldn’t have paid it much attention had I not also visited the neighbouring village of Winterbourne Whitchurch where there is an emphatic example of a ‘side-dial’ complete with a most unusual gnomon. My understanding is that this arrangement amounts to a morning dial read from E.

This is the 4th church I have come across where church events have entailed the use of a dial to tie in decorations etc with wire. In each case the wire was effective as an improvised gnomon.

FONT STORY

During the Victorian period it was sometimes the fashion to throw out ancient fonts and Street did just that, installing in its place a new replacement. Fortunately, the old Norman font, decorated with a cable motif, was rediscovered in 1930 and put back in the north aisle, where it remains in use to this day. DHCT [This is an example of throwing the bath out with the baby water]

St Andrew . Milborne St Andrew . Dorset – S Porch and Norman Doorway

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial ; Transitional Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

WINTERBOURNE STEEPLETON . DORSET . ST MICHAEL – Scratch Dials

Published on January 24, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST MICHAEL . WINTERBOURNE STEEPLETON . DORSET

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. The first is simple to find and simple in style. The second is so simple that I could not with certainty claim to have found it. It was registered quite a while ago, and possibly lichen spread has made what was already faint, no longer identifiable.

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 visited the rest of the drainpipes were being repaired and repainted.

This is a straightforward little 4-line morning dial with a pleasingly casual approach to straight lines. The deeper incised line suggests that terce was the most significant Mass of the day. Do see the Saxon statue mentioned in the notice (there is a similar one in Bradford on Avon), and indeed spend some time inside this interesting small church.

DIAL 2

This dial was recorded as being on the S buttress of the tower, with 1 line 45mm long and a pock. It was noted then as ‘very faint’. While Dial 1 is mentioned elsewhere eg BHO, I have found no other reference. However, a drawing was made and is all I can offer for present purposes.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial, Mass Dial

All photos Keith Salvesen; diagrams BSS