Memorial Sundial – GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN

CHÂTEAU de VAUVILLE . COTENTIN . JARDIN BOTANIQUE – Armillary Sphere

Published on December 18, 2024December 18, 2024 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

CHÂTEAU de VAUVILLE . CONTENTIN . JARDIN BOTANIQUE

The Château dates from mid-C12. Thereafter – like many similar large houses in the region – it suffered many changes in fortune over the centuries. It has been described as ‘one of the finest examples of fortified architecture in the Nord-Cotentin‘. It is still in the ownership of the same family. During WW2 the house was pillaged and severely damaged. Restorations since then have resulted in a very fine building in lovely surroundings.

The splended gardens were created after the war by Eric Pellerin and feature a huge variety of the semi-tropical plants and trees that thrive on the western edge of the Cotentin coast.

ARMILLARY SPHERE

The sphere seems (to me, anyway) fairly complex, and rather than trying to interpret it I think that high resolution images taken from a number of angles is more useful. There is an engraved inscription that girdles the dial and includes personal tributes to Pellerin and others.

All photos: Keith Salvesen / Rolling Harbour or OS online

GSS Category: Armillary Sphere; French Sundial; Normandy Sundial; Botanical Garden Dial

TIMSBURY . HANTS . ST ANDREW – Horizontal Pedestal Sundial

Published on March 28, 2024 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

TIMSBURY . HANTS . ST ANDREW

St Andrew is a fine church, and fully lives up to the interest its appearance suggests. Before looking closely at and inside the church for dials and apotropaic marks, I walked over to the sundial in the churchyard.

It proved to be a simple and quite elegant Memorial sundial for Janet Knox Zorab who lived to be nearly 100.

The dial plate and gnomon are conventional. The rustic feel to the churchyard and the closeness to a rather special church provide a peaceful setting for a memorial.

GSS Category: Horizontal Sundial; Pedestal Sundial; Memorial Sundial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

EAST STOUR . DORSET – Analemmatic Sundial

Published on February 8, 2024February 9, 2024 by Rolling Harbour2 Comments

East Stour is a small village 5m W of Shaftsbury, with the A30 dividing its church from the majority of its (potential) congregation. I had a good lunch in the pub as bell-ringing issues were being keenly discussed around me..

A short but perilous (no pavements) walk away is a very fine and beautifully designed analemmatic sundial in a small park by the Village Hall. It is a war memorial, and the dedication poignantly extends the commemoration to everyone from East Stour who has been affected by war.

BSS RECORD

The dial is in the north corner of East Stour playing field. It is made from Portland stone and black granite with slate shingle infill. Granite tablet set into portland stone slab to N of date scale is all slightly canted and carries the laser-etched inscription: 4This Memorial is dedicated everyone from East Stour who has been affected by war. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.X To the right of the words is an etched image of a soldier, a child and three crosses. The dial shows Arabic hours for 5am to 8pm.

Delineation was by David Brown, content by Guy Gilding, letter-cutting and stone-laying by lan Viney of Stonemasons of Dorset Ltd, and groundwork by local builder.

GSS Category: Analemmatic Sundial; Memorial Sundial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

ROOKERY GARDENS . STREATHAM . LONDON – Horizontal Dial

Published on January 22, 2024January 23, 2024 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ROOKERY GARDENS . STREATHAM . LONDON

The day after Storm Isha wreaked havoc in various areas of the British Isles, there was a brief moment of sunshine during our short visit to London. We walked to the Rookery Gardens in Streatham, part of the estate of a large house that was demolished in 1912. The horizontal pedestal dial was immediately in front of us, demanding inspection. A very pleasing commemorative dial at the source of the western branch of the River Falcon, one of London’s many so-called Lost Rivers.

GSS Category: Horizontal Dial; Pedestal Dial

All photos Keith Salvesen; thanks to J & J for the productive walk

KIRKWALL CATHEDRAL . ORKNEY . ST MUNGO – Pictoric Sundial / Momento Mori c1673

Published on August 26, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

BSS RECORD

DIAL

This image of a dial appears on a grave slab that is now mounted on the interior south wall of the nave alongside many other such slabs. It is one of a number of symbols associated with death, carved in relief. The symbols are in a central panel between upper and lower panels containing text. The dial is illustrative / symbolic only and is roughly square, with hour lines radiating downwards from the top.

ICONOGRAPHY

The image represents Death breaking the urn of Life with an arrow. A flame bursts forth from the punctured vessel, from the tip of which the soul flies away in a northwesterly direction. An hour-glass with the sand run out, a sun-dial, two spades, and a coffin complete the doleful ideogram. The grave slab is for Patrick Prince, died 1673.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Cathedral Dial; Church Dial; Dial inside church

PHOTOS: All photos John Renner, with many thanks; Cathedral Stevekeiretsu Wiki OS CC; Print from Cathedral Guide

ST MAGNUS CATHEDRAL

PATRICK PRINCE link for the slab text no longer works, but I’ll add if I can locate another

ALCISTON CHURCH . E SUSSEX . (Dedication Unknown) – Modern Column Dial

Published on July 26, 2023July 26, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ALCISTON CHURCH has no Dedication. That is quite unusual, inviting speculation and maybe inspiring research into the history. I didn’t get that far because this is a multiple scratch dial church, with 4 good examples to admire and write up. You can read my piece about them HERE

In the churchyard there was an object that attracted our attention. This eye-catching slender column had only recently been dug in, and was in pristine condition. Clearly it is a memorial, but no details were marked. The sides and the back are plain. The large hole at the top is lined with gold, which looks very good. As a whole, it is obviously designed with care and made with skill.

DIAL

The dial itself is pleasingly symmetrical, and the composition works very well. I think it is not necessarily intended to have a gnomon, though someone has chosen to improvise with a stick.

However, because it faces roughly E rather than S, its ability to mark the passage of the day is limited. Also, the divisions of the lines would be cut differently. However, as a memorial stone, strict accuracy as a sundial may well not be a consideration anyway. It is a fine piece of work in a lovely setting.

GSS Category: Modern Dial; Vertical Dial; Column Dial; Memorial Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen; thanks to John Foad BSS

ROSEMOOR GARDENS . TORRINGTON . DEVON – Pillar Dial 2004

Published on July 12, 2023July 13, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ROSEMOOR GARDENS

Renowned RHS gardens near Torrington, Devon. It’s a wonderful place. You can find out all about it HERE. For present purposes, the focus is on the very fine sundial installed in the gardens in 2004. This is a project of the BRITISH SUNDIAL SOCIETY and the description below is from the BSS record:

This is an unusual dial in the form of a triangular section pillar made of Delabole slate and 1820mm high. It was designed by Sir Mark Lennox-Boyd and made by Ben Jones. It carries a motto on the 610mm diameter slate base ‘But only in time can the moment in the rose-garden be remembered’ (T.S.Eliot, modified from a passage in Burnt Norton, the first of the Four Quartets).

On two of the faces are pairs of declining dials one above the other. The upper ones are drawn for December to June and the lower ones for June to December. The hour lines are corrected for the Equation of Time.There are three declination lines on each dial. Arabic numerals are used and the dials show BST. The easterly dial shows 5:30am to 1:30pm in half and quarter hours while the westerly dial shows 12:30pm to 9:30pm similarly divided. The north dial has dedications to V M Dickinson, M J C Wright, H Addy and R Addy.

DIAL IMAGES 1

DIAL IMAGES 2

Images taken from the designer’s magisterial book Sundials: History, Art, People, Science. The design below seems an excellent example of art meeting science.

GSS Category: Pillar Dial; Modern Sundial; Pillar Sundial

Credits: Photos by John Renner; material from the book by Mark Lennox-Boyd; British Sundial Society

WIGMORE . HEREFS . ST JAMES – Scratch Dials

Published on June 28, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST JAMES . WIGMORE . HEREFS

GRADE I † On a hilltop overlooking the village, next to the ruins of Wigmore Castle. Saxon origins with good remains of herringbone brickwork visible; early Norman nave c1050. Extended / altered / restored from C14 (tower) on. An impression of a fortified church, esp. tower at W end. 9m from Ludlow. 52.3166 / -2.8626 / SO412690

DIALS

DIAL 1

Dial 1 is on the SE face of the buttress in NE corner of the chancel (ie at the back of E end of the church), so at some stage re-sited as of little use for its intended purpose it its current position. There are 2 lines radiating from the style hole in the dial stone. In canonical terms, the deeper cut line equates roughly with Nones, and the upper line with Vespers, an unusually specific emphasis on the afternoon and evening, with no line for noon or earlier.

I wondered if, when relocated, the dial stone was rotated by 90º anticlockwise. If ‘corrected’, the short line would be the noon line, and the deeper-cut line would mark Tierce. But it is not very convincing and probably I am overthinking a very simple dial.

DIAL 1 ROTATED 90º

BSS DIAGRAM

DIAL 2

Dial 2 on the wall of S aisle is similarly simple with 2 lines only. One does not actually meet the gnomon. Of the sort that can be read more easily in B&W

DIAL 3

Dial 3 is low down on chancel, S doorway. There are 7 pocks in a semicircle, with the gnomon hole top centre. When I visited there were various obstacles in the supposed location. I found nothing to match the diagram below, and having moved a large planter to one side, this is the nearest pattern I could find.

SAXON HERRINGBONE PATTERN

GSS Category: Scratch Dial

All photos Keith Salvesen except Dial 2 (BSS records)

TRELLECH . MON . ST NICHOLAS – Lady Probert’s dial 1689 (pt 1): Interior

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

St Nicholas . Trellech . Mon – Cube Multidial

GRADE I † Early C14 with earlier origins; reconstruction & restorations 1890s. An exceptionally fine and well preserved medieval church (Cadw); One of the finest churches in the county (PEV). Coat-of-Arms of Charles II dated 1683. Weathercock of 1792. You need no further recommendation. 5m S of Monmouth. 51.7459 / -2.725 / SO500054

DIAL

A wonderful C18 cube dial dated 1689, the gift of Lady Probert. Once, it stood in the village near the school. It was moved in 1895 and one source suggests that a concrete cast was made. The Latin inscriptions on the dial are descriptive of 3 features that are of historical importance to the village: Tump Terret; Harold’s Stones; and Virtuous Well. The details (PEV) are:

The detailed BSS record adds further details, including the full Latin motto on S, N & E faces: EUNDO HORA . DI…EM . DEPASCIT (The Hour Itself Consumes the Day).

Also included are the inscriptions on the square stone below the dial: 1. Terret Tump – O QUOT HIC SEPULTI (O How Many Buried Here); 2. Harold’s Stones – HIC FUIT VITOR HAROLD (Here was Harold Victorious); 3. DOM MAGD PROBERT OSTENDIT (Lady Maud Probert set this out to view).

DIAL DETAILS

SOUTH FACE

WEST FACE

NORTH FACE

EAST FACE

PART 2 will examine the excellent modern wooden replica (out)standing in a small field by a crossroads. It has been beautifully designed and is a dial of distinction in its own right.

GSS Category: Cube Dial; Multiple Dial

All photos Keith Salvesen; Pevsner extract Gwent & Monmouthshire; BSS records; church noticeboard

BATH . PARADE GARDENS. British Sundial Society – Armillary Sphere

Published on January 28, 2023January 29, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

BRITISH SUNDIAL SOCIETY . ARMILLARY SPHERE . PARADE GARDENS . BATH

*Armillary Sphere . Parade Gardens . Bath*

The plaque above gives all the details (including a bar code) necessary to admire and appreciate this excellent armillary sphere that was installed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the foundation of BSS. My visit to Bath was spoiled by bad weather: gloom with only occasional respite from rain. Hence these rather unsatisfactory photos, which I have had to cheer up somewhat. I intend to replace them in due course, when a visit to Bath coincides with sunshine. The Motto, explained below, describes my predicament.

The gallery of images below gives a 360º view of the dial against glimpses of the Bath setting. One or two are meant to be ‘arty’, never my strong suit.

MOTTO

‘I ONLY RECKON THE BRIGHT HOURS’ is the translation given by Margaret Gatty (p.45 of the compact volume). Other versions include I ONLY COUNT CLEAR HOURS and I ONLY COUNT THE HOURS THAT ARE SERENE. MG wrote (of the succinct Latin version) that the motto is too good to be uncommon, and gives a number of locations where it may be found in England, Scotland, and (unexpectedly) Venice, of which Hazlitt wrote …there is a softness and a harmony in the words and in the thought unparalleled. None of the above modern motto variations works very well; it’s hard to come up with a translation as elegant as the original in Latin. The word ‘serenas’ is the real problem….

ADDENDUM Dictionary research including Chambers – far the best for archaic words and usages – clarifies the motto. A subsidiary meaning of ‘serene’ was, in the past, ‘an expanse of clear sky’; ‘cloudless’; or in one source, ‘sunny’. On countless modern sundials, this Latin formulation is the familiar I only count the sunny hours.