Category: Modern Sundials

SHERBORNE SCHOOL (SSG) . DORSET . VERTICAL DIAL

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SCIENCE BUILDING DIAL

This ingenious dial is located on the south front of the school’s new science building. The Old Shirburnian Society site has a helpful ARTICLE featuring various sundials in the town: here is the relevant entry.

The vertical solar dial on the south front of the science building (opened in October 2011) includes strong references to science. Designed in green slate and stainless steel by David M. Brown of David Brown Sundials in Somerton, each of the ‘numbers’ on the dial is represented by the chemical symbol of that number (e.g., the atomic number for Hydrogen is 1, so there is an H where the 1 would be). It also includes the symbols of Cancer marking the summer solstice and Capricorn marking the winter solstice.

The photos were taken recently at two events at the school, one during the day and the other in the evening. The distance to and the height of the dial precluded clarity using a phone lens. As it has turned out, the main evening photo gives the best detail of the various elements of the dial noted above.

GSS Category: Vertical Dial; Modern Sundial; Technical Sundial; Scientific Sundial

All photos: Keith Salvesen; Descriptive material from Old Shirburnian Society

OSLO . FROGNER PARK . ARMILLARY SPHERES by Vigeland (1930); Wegner (1837)

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ARMILLARY SPHERES

GUSTAV VIGELAND

VIGELAND-PARKEN OPEN AIR ART INSTALLATION

Gustav Vigeland (Thorsen) (1869 – 1943) was a Norwegian sculptor much admired for his creative imagination and productivity. His most notable work is the monumental ‘Vigeland Installation’ in the Frogner Park Oslo, compared to which his sundial is a footnote. Although generally acclaimed, Vigeland’s work is viewed by some as having uncomfortable connotations in several respects. The static interaction of the dozens of babies, children, women, and men might – nearly 100 years later – raise eyebrows. Having skimmed the topic I rather agree (despite being of Norwegian descent. Or because of it maybe).

The armillary sphere was installed in 1930, a distinctively Scandinavian variation from designs further south in Europe, in a good way. The heavily sculpted dais is a duodecagon showing the Signs of the Zodiac in bold (lumpen?) relief.

BENJAMIN WEGNER

The armillary sphere is located outside the Frogner manor house (now the City Museum) in the south of the park. Wegner aquired the parkland in 1836, and the sphere was probably installed the following year.

Photographer: Vanasan, Wiki

There is very little information about this dial online, and only one clear photo that I could find. As often, Wiki can help clarify obscurity:

The sundial is constructed as an open globe, where the meridians cast a shadow on sunny days onto the inner part of the globe, hitting the inside of the equator line and thus showing the time, specifically the astronomical solar time. Odd Gunnar Skagestad wrote in 2020 that the nearly 200-year-old sundial is greatly neglected and called for efforts to preserve it

GSS Category: Armillary Sphere; City Sundial; Norway Sundial

All Vigeland photos Camilla Pennant; Wegner Dial, ‘Vanasan’

All photo

ART NOUVEAU SUNDIAL by FRANCIS BARKER with LIBERTY PEDESTAL

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FRANCIS BARKER DIAL with LIBERTY ART NOUVEAU PEDESTAL

This is a gnomon-less sundial that I dug out of a pigsty at my home. I was about 10. The sty had layers of compacted earth and garden material that almost reached the top, the legacy of the previous owners. I had always wondered whether there might be hidden treasure, and eventually my curiosity got the better of me.

I gradually dug down until, suddenly, my spade hit something with a loud clonk. It took a while but eventually I was able to prise out… a prize. It has lived on as a garden ornament / flower pedestal for many years, with 4 changes of address. Eventually it has settled in Dorset.

Later – by then a BSS member – I sought advice about my dial. In due course Sue Manston included the dial in an detailed article by Jo Elsworth in the BSS Bulletin 118. Volume 33(ii) – June 2021

The author Jo Elsworth notes that similar dials have been described as ‘Antique’ and Art Deco. For the reasons she gives, the classification as Art Nouveau is the most approriate,

Also in the garden: a modern armillary sphere, watched over by Father Time

GSS Category: Horizontal Dial; Barker Sundial Plate; Liberty Sundial Pedestal; Art Nouveau Sundial.

All photos: Keith Salvesen; BSS article – Sue Manston, with thanks

DURLSTON CASTLE . SWANAGE . DORSET – Vertical Dial (1887)

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DURLSTON CASTLE . SWANAGE . DORSET

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Durlston Country Park is close to Swanage and has much to offer. The ‘modern’ Castle was completed in 1891. There are extensive grounds, 5 walking / nature trails, sculptures, epochal details chiseled into stone tablets, Art Gallery, tea room, views across to IoW, a huge C19 stone globe, significant jurassic finds.

More germane here, high on S face is a fine vertical sundial (1887). Below it are two stone tablets inscribed with times and tides worldwide.

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DIAL

The dial is inset in the South wall about 5 m above the ground. It shows 6am to 6pm in half and quarter hours. Uses XII & IIII. White lines and chapter ring on a beige rectangular dial-plate all within a four piece chamfered stone frame. The Roman numerals arranged vertically. BSS

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An angled view reveals that the gnomon incorporates the initial B, standing for (George) Burt, the Victorian entrepreneur owner who conceived the idea of what we can still see today. It was (oddly?) described at the time as the most magnificently conceived restaurant.

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Two large incised tablets: essentially they deal with Time & Tides respectively

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GREAT GLOBE

    Great Globe (1887), a vast perfectly formed stone ball inscribed with an eclectic selection of places. Many will be little known or unknown to random visitors such as me. The Society Isles (Pacific) sound pleasant.

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    COMPASS POINTS

    Stone Benches Surrounding the globe, at various heights and angles on a steep stope, are stone benches, each clearly marked with a compass point. In an ideal world there would be an equally fine analemmatic sundial.

    GSS Category:

    All photos by Keith Salvesen except header image Huligano0 OS CC

    TIMSBURY . HANTS . ST ANDREW – Horizontal Pedestal Sundial

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    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

    CORCIANO . UMBRIA (1) – Armillary Sphere

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    CORCIANO . UMBRIA . ARMILLARY SPHERE

    Corciano is an attractive small town 12km west of Perugia, walled and with much of its medieval origins still evident. In contrast, the Commune has commissioned interesting modern projects, for example a residential complex designed by Renzo Piano and inspired by Rubik’s cubes. 

    The town has initiated an ambitious project, financed by the municipality, to make an itinerary that combines culture, history, astronomy, landscape and science and can be used free of charge for everyone: citizens, schools and tourists.

    BORGO del SOLE

    The Sundial Trail links 3 different kinds of sundial at sites carefully chosen for each type. These are an Armillary Sphere (Equatorial Dial); an Analemmatic Sundial; and a Ptolemaic Plinth in the Gardens. Other types of dial are planned.

    GSS Category: Armillary Sphere; Sundial Italy

    Photos: John Renner, with thanks

    ROOKERY GARDENS . STREATHAM . LONDON – Horizontal Dial

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    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

    BARRINGTON COURT . SOM . HORIZONTAL DIAL

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    Barrington Court . Somerset

    BARRINGTON COURT . SOMERSET

    Barrington Court is a fine county house near Ilminster in Somerset, now in the care of NT. There is wonderful multi-faceted dodecahedral pillar dial in front of the house that I have written about HERE.

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    Barrington Court . Som . Horizontal Dial

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    ROSE GARDEN DIAL

    The sturdy horizontal pedestal dial stands on a double plinth in the centre of the large rose and iris garden. It has a sad recent history. In Spring 2000 the original C19 bronze dial plate by Carey was levered off and stolen. It has never been recovered.

    Barrington Court . Som . Horizontal Dial after theft of plate in 2000

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    On the bright side, a wonderful faithful reproduction by John Davis was installed in 2013, and the dial is restored to its glory for the future.

    Barrington Court . Som . Horizontal Dial

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    It is described as an attractive horizontal dial of some complexity. The Equation of Time scale is engraved around the dial; all points of compass are shown; and it has one minute time marks BSS. These complex features can be seen clearly in the final image below.

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    Barrington Court . Som . Horizontal Dial

    GSS Category: Horizontal Dial; Pedestal Dial

    All photos: Keith Salvesen except NT / Simon Harris above

    OXFORD . ST GILES . ARMILLARY SPHERE

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    ST GILES . ARMILLARY SPHERE

    The armillary sphere is on the grassy area close to St Giles churchyard, where the road north forks towards Blenheim NW, and to Banbury NE. It was evening and rain had been pelting down. The way to a pub led me past the dial, and I was tempted to see what an iPhone camera would make of it.

    The dial was given to The City of Oxford in 1986 by its twin city Bonn, and made by a local blacksmith (to Bonn, that is.)

    BSS RECORD: Modern equatorial memorial dial in an armillary sphere in the churchyard. The dial is the equatorial ring of an armillary sphere. It shows 6am to 6pm with raised cast Roman hour numerals and half hour dots. The other two rings are vertical – a north-south meridian ring open on the south side and an east-west ring. The axial arrow forms the gnomon. There is no nodus. It is not adjustable for latitude. The dial is mounted on a small stone slab. There is a small plaque on the slab.

    Margaret Stanier in her book on Oxford dials, calls it a fine bit of ironwork, with bold numerals, easy to read. She notes that the rings are positioned so that their shadows cannot obliterate that of the gnomon.

    The experiment with a phone worked quite well, I think. The details are legible, possibly more so than photos taken in sunlight. And it makes a change.

    GSS Category: Armillary Sphere; Modern Dial; Oxford Sundials

    All photos: Keith Salvesen

    NEW COLLEGE OXFORD . Vertical Millennium Dial

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    New College Oxford . Vertical Sundial

    NEW COLLEGE . OXFORD

    Dusk on a rainy November evening is not an ideal time to photograph high-up sundials, especially ones with intricate but delicate gnomons. Entering the Great Quadrangle, the sundial is visible on the Muniment Tower, beyond which is the Garden Quad. The position of the dial somewhat limits the photographer. A certain amount of refining has been needed in presentation, which I hope will be excused. The dial face is pale blue (white in some photos I have come across). The light conditions resulted in a rather startling blue that I have attempted not very successfully to tone down.

    New College Oxford . Vertical Sundial

    The New College Millennium dial is on the S facing wall of the Muniment Tower. Quite apart from photographic considerations, the high position means that it is not possible to see the whole dial from ground level. One cannot, for example, see that the M M at the top is matched by W W at the bottom, standing for William of Wykeham who founded New College in 1379; nor that noon is marked by a golden cross.

    New College Oxford . Vertical Sundial

    The dial marks quarter hours, as indicated by the chequered perimeter. Margaret Stanier mentions a wall-mounted plate showing the EQUATION OF TIME ; and she notes that there was a vertical dial in the same position from 1696 until c1850, then being obliterated by restoration and refacing.

    BRITISH SUNDIAL SOCIETY ARTICLE – HARRIET JAMES

    This excellent article from the BSS Bulletin Vol 12 .1 of Feb 2000 was published very shortly after the installation of the dial. It has all the material you need regarding the dial, and there are some very clear images that give a view of the whole dial. It also covers the original C17 dial in the gardens.

    Download

    New College Oxford . Vertical Sundial

    GSS Category: Vertical Dial; Millennium Dial; University Dial

    All photos: Keith Salvesen. Source material: Margaret Stanier ‘Oxford Sundials’ 2003. College diagram: BLB; tip of the hat to Michael Lalos, a fellow dial enthusiast, who also used the BSS Bulletin