Sundial – GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN

GRUNDISBURGH . SUFFOLK . ST MARY – Vertical Dial

Published on November 24, 2022November 27, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST MARY . GRUNDISBURGH . SUFFOLK

GRADE I † Late C13; C15 enlargement and alterations. Tower c1730 with a plaque over the doorway: This Steeple was Built The Bells set in Order and Fixt. At the Charge of Robert Thinge Gent. Lately Deceased A.D. 1731-1732. Dial undated. 8m NE of Ipswich. 52.1133 / 1.2459 / TM223510

The vertical sundial is immediately below the clock. As David Ross has written, what is immediately obvious as you walk up the path to the door is a large sundial set against the south wall of the tower, below a Victorian clock – as if the Victorians did not quite trust the sundial. Both timepieces are set below a round-headed window that would be perfectly at home in a railway station. (David Ross, Britain Express)

PEV (Suffolk E) is also unenthusiasic about the tower, which showed how the Georgians could be every bit as insensitive as the much-maligned Victorians.

HOW THE DIAL WORKS (1)

The break-arch shaped dial has a motto within the arch that reads: Life pas’s like a shadow. Roman and Arabic numerals are used to show the time. At the gnomon base are two arcs showing the time elsewhere. Analysis indicates that the scale with Roman numerals suggests Damascus; the scale with Arabic numerals suggests Barbados.

The main dial shows 5am to 4pm in Roman numerals, divided into quarter hours. The gnomon rod has an ‘S’ shaped supporter and a ball nodus. This is associated with the 11 declination lines numbered 8, 9, J0, J1, J2, J3, J4, J5, J6 (8 to 16 for daylight hours), with outer lines unnumbered.

The above notes are based on BSS records. The complete entry is below

HOW THE DIAL WORKS (2)

This break-arch shaped dial on the south wall of the church tower, below a clock, declines about 23° to the east. The tower dates from 1731-32, but it is not known whether the dial is contemporary.

A motto within the arch reads: LIFE PAS’S LIKE / A SHADOW. Scales around the gnomon root show the time at two other places, but they are not named. The outer scale, with Roman numerals for 8am to 7pm, using XII and IIII, shows the time at about 37° E, so may be intended to show Damascus time. The inner scale, with Arabic numerals 1 to 12, shows the time at about longitude 60° W, possibly for Barbados.

The main dial shows 5am to 4pm in upright Roman numerals using XII and IIII, divided to quarter hours. The gnomon rod has an ‘S’ shaped supporter and carries a ball nodus, which is associated with nine declination lines numbered 8, 9, J0,J1, J2, J3, J4, J5, J6 (8 to 16 for the hours of daylight).

The nine vertical lines crossing these are for azimuth, the nodus shadow showing the direction of the sun. They are also unlabelled, but will indicate bearings of SEbE, SE, SEbS, SSE, SbE, S, SbW, SSW and SWbS.

A report in September 1983 found the dial completely bare, presumably prior to a restoration.

St Mary . Grundisburgh . Suffolk – Vertical Dial Motto

MOTTOS

LIFE PAS’S LIKE A SHADOW

A rare variant of the many inscriptions that link Life with Shadow(s). Pas’s is said to reflect the Suffolk dialect at the time. There is another example of the ‘misspelling’ (as we might say now) of the word pass. At St Mary, Bucknall, Shropshire, the 1712 dial is inscribed Tyme Paseth.

Tempus Fugit on the C19 clock is… comfortingly familiar

If you want to find out more about St Mary and other churches in Suffolk, I recommend the website of Simon Knott SUFFOLK CHURCHES a journey through the churches of Suffolk

GSS Category: Vertical Dial; Sundial Motto

All photos: Keith Salvesen

MARNHULL . DORSET . DIAL HOUSE

Published on October 12, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

Vertical Dial on Village House . Marnhull . Dorset

The dial is above the front door of a house in the village, with a stone ledge above it. It doesn’t give the impression of being old. There is little sign of weathering or erosion and the incisions are all equally clean. BSS gives it as C18?? and suggests it may be a replacement for an earlier dial. Given the design, I wonder if it is actually a modern C20 direct copy of the original?

The dial is canted to face south and provide an accurate reading. Noon is marked, as often, by a cross. The archaic use of IIII for IV might also suggest a careful copy of an old dial, as may the flourishes in the lower corners.

GSS Category: Vertical Dial; Canted Dial; Dial on house

All photos: Keith Salvesen

THORNFORD (2) . DORSET . ST MARY MAGDALENE Revisited – Rare Scratch Dials (interior & sill)

Published on August 20, 2022August 25, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST MARY MAGDALENE . THORNFORD . DORSET

GRADE II † C14 nave, chancel, 3-stage W tower; C15 nave rebuilt, N chapel added. Victorian restoration 1866. 14 Consecration Crosses (usually 12 or fewer). S. of the Sherborne – Yeovil A30 road, approx half way between the two towns 50.9175 / 50°55’3″N / ST603132

I last wrote about St Mary at a time when churches were locked for Covid reasons. I was able to feature the 2 extraordinary and very rare external sill dials in a post HERE Recently, I returned to the church to investigate the third and most unusual dial located actually inside the church. Here is that dial, with a recap of the sill dials.

Scratch Dials located inside a porch are not especially rare, with quite a few examples within a 25 mile radius of Thornford. They are found where dials were originally cut in the stone surrounds of a medieval church doorway and a porch was subsequently added. In some cases, the new porch entrance had a new dial cut to replace its redundant predecessor.

St Mary Magdalene, Thornford, Dorset – interior scratch dial

THORNFORD DIAL 3 – INSIDE THE CHURCH

Very rarely is a dial found actually inside the church itself. This may occur when a dial stone has been relocated from the outside to repair an interior wall; or as part of wider building works, as with Stoke St Gregory Somerset. Thornford has a most interesting example.

INTERIOR DIAL

A remarkable dial – relocated, inverted, overpainted, and all but hidden in the chancel on the N side of the church on the E face of the window jamb, with a wooden toy castle for company. There are 8 lines of almost the same length, somewhat rough-hewn. 2 are barely perceptible.

TWO RARE SILL DIALS

St Mary was one of the earliest churches to be covered in this project, probably because it is only 2 villages away from ours. I featured the 2 the two very rare ‘sill’ scratch dials, both on the quoins of the E. corner of the window sills either side of the blocked chancel doorway, with the window jambs acting as gnomon. These are not unique, but I believe there are fewer than 5 other examples. The link to that article is HERE.

St Mary Magdalene Thornford Dorset Scratch dial 1a — Thornford – window scratch dial 1a

St Mary Magdalene Thornford Dorset Scratch dial 1b — *Thornford – window scratch dial 1*b

St Mary Magdalene Thornford Dorset Scratch dial 2a — *Thornford – window scratch dial 2a*

St Mary Magdalene Thornford Dorset Scratch dial 2b — *Thornford – window scratch dial* 2b

NOTES † Stone screen, c15 font, early organ, a number of Consecration crosses (RCHM says 14), from badly eroded Hamstone to clear-cut. Tithe Tomb in the churchyard with a basin into which tenants contributed to the wealth of the Lord of the Manor by making an annual payment ‘on St Thomas’s Day’ to be allowed to keep their own hay

GSS Category – Scratch Dial; Sill Dial; Interior Dial

All photos – Keith Salvesen

*St Mary . Thornford . Dorset – two of fourteen Consecration Crosses, external and internal*

WEST CHELBOROUGH . DORSET . ST ANDREW – C17 Scientific Dial

Published on December 5, 2021 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST ANDREW . WEST CHELBOROUGH . DORSET

GRADE I † Early C12 traces, rebuilt and extended C15. S. tower added in 1638. Restored and added vestry C19. 2 bells cast on site in 1275, the oldest in Dorset. Notable C12 font. 50.8467 / -2.6524 / ST541054

SCIENTIFIC DIAL

Once you have located the church at the very end of the hamlet – a dead end – of a very long lane, it immediately looks distinctive. In the present context, the dial on the tower – inscribed on S. parapet William Lardar Esq. Thomas Horsford Warden 1638 – is most unusual, not least because it faces due E.

DEH, in a rare excursion into Dorset while researching the scratch dials of Somerset in 1914, recorded this dial as a C17 scientific dial of 1638: E declining down to midday only. No trace of another dial for later in day.

GLP has written the definitive interpretation of the dial, and I include his complete record which explains the dial far better than I ever could.

It would be good to know if this blade of a gnomon is / may be original and has been (re)painted over the years. Also, to know why special dials were almost always sited next to a drainpipe…

GSS Category: Scientific Dial; Scratch Dial; Old Dial

All photos – Keith Salvesen; record extract – Gordon Le Pard

PONTE VECCHIO . FLORENCE – ‘ UNEXPECTED TIMES’: A C14 SUNDIAL

Published on November 12, 2021December 19, 2021 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

‘ UNEXPECTED TIMES’: A SUNDIAL ON THE PONTE VECCHIO

This article was written a while back, in the pre-Covid era. Now I have a sundial site up and running, this dial and some others from Florence have a new space.

Florence in January. -8°C at night, zero during the day – but sunny enough in the middle of the day to be able to have coffee or even lunch outside. Apart from the Uffizi, no queues for anywhere. Most significant places on the tourist trail almost to oneself. Despite the cold, there is no frost: the air is so dry that the pavements, piazzas and even the cars are quite clear of frozen white crystals. By the river I caught the electric flash of a male kingfisher flying up from the water to an overhanging bush, his hunting perch. I watched him as he scanned the water below, occasionally diving down and returning to the same branch. Twice, I could see the glint of a tiny fish in his beak.

Over the years I don’t know how often I have crossed the Ponte Vecchio – or even simply walked to the mid-point to admire the views up and down river from the open areas between the pricey shops. This time I was walking the length of the Vasari corridor that connects the Palazzo Vecchio to the Palazzo Pitti on the other side of the Arno. A section runs straight over the bridge and then passes across the facade of Santa Felicita, into which the Medici family could sneak from the corridor to a large private balcony for spiritual refreshment. Passing the middle of the west side of the bridge, in the ‘tourist photo op’ gap where Cellini’s bust adds to the photogenic view, I have never before looked upwards.

Here, on the roof of a shop, is an ancient sundial, supported by a white marble pillar. An eroded and almost illegible engraving below the pillar records that in 1333, floods caused the bridge to collapse and that “twelve years later, as pleased the Commune, it was rebuilt with this ornamentation”. The sundial itself, with its columnar divisions reminiscent of a rose window, marks the CANONICAL HOURS. The gnomon’s shadow indicates the hour of the day. If the sundial is the ‘ornamentation’ to which the inscription refers, then it is around 650 years old.

If you look closely, you’ll see, halfway up the south face of the hexagonal column, a lizard

Seeing the sundial for the first time ever, yet in such a familiar place was a reminder that Florence is a city that demands great attention as one walks through the streets. Many buildings, even unassuming ones, have fine adornments high up that will catch the eye… but only if you are looking out for them.

CAIUS COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE – GATE OF HONOUR SUNDIAL

Published on February 10, 2021February 10, 2021 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

Gonville and Caius College Cambridge – Sundial over the Gate of Honour

This handsome modern set of dials was installed in 1963 as part of the 400th anniversary celebration of the college’s re-foundation by John Caius. There are 6 vertical sundials, arranged in 3 pairs placed round the hexagonal tower. They were designed by astronomer and Fellow, Dr Message, and the Junior Bursar Dr Powell. The bronze dial faces are painted with vitreous enamel. They replace the original set of sundials dating from 1557, of which only traces remained.

There is something very satisfying about this set of dials. The symmetry, the proportions, the materials, and the design all seem to work in harmony. Cambridge colleges have many sundials between them, many original and ancient (Queen’s College sundial is a perfect example). Of the modern dials, the Gate of Honour is adorned by arguably the finest.

The college has three gates that represent the stages of academic life: matriculation, entered through the Gate of Humility; undergraduate life, with regular passage through the Gate of Virtue during a student’s career; and finally graduation, with students passing through the Gate of Honour to the Senate House to receive their degrees.

Gonville and Caius College is one of the oldest colleges of Cambridge University. It was founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, who has suffered the cruel fate of rarely being mentioned nowadays; the college is almost invariably referred to simply as ‘Caius’, after John Caius, the man who re-founded the college in 1557 at a time when it had fallen on hard times.

52.2057 / 0°7’1″E / TL447584

GGS Category- Modern Dial

STANTON GLOS (2) – ST MICHAEL – SCRATCH DIAL and SUNDIAL

Published on January 27, 2021January 28, 2021 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

DEDICATION † ST MICHAEL & ALL ANGELS Saxon origins, Norman features, mainly C13 to C15

LISTING † GRADE 1

LINKED POST † STANTON 1 – VILLAGE CROSS SUNDIAL

LOCATION † STANTON is four miles north of Winchcombe, one of several attractive Cotswold villages in the immediate area. Many of the local churches feature scratch dials, Glos. as a whole being a hotspot. The Church of St Michael has, besides a scratch dial, a time-worn sundial over the porch. 52.0067 / -1.9013 / SP068342

DIALS † The scratch dial is on the right side of the fine projecting porch towards the edge, and easily visible as you approach. It looks as elementary a circle dial as one could imagine. The sundial is set high on the parapet above the doorway, seemingly old, definitely battered, and with a tilted gnomon.

*Stanton Glos. St Michael & All Angels . Scratch Dial*

STANTON: THE SUNDIAL

*Stanton Glos. St Michael & All Angels . Sundial*

NOTES † Apart from inclusion in TW‘s extensive list of Glos. dials, I have found no further information. Not referenced in BHO / BLB / HE. For interest: the VG Stanton website notes “several bench ends are deeply ringed by the dog-chains of the sheepdogs, brought by their masters to church” and that stone benches in the porch were for the infirm to sit on and lean against the wall: “the weakest go to the wall”.

LINKS † Tony Wood TW: Mass Dials in Gloucestershire LINK ; Stanton Village Church online LINK

GSS Category – Scratch Dial; Old Dial

VILLEFRANCHE-DE-CONFLENT: DOUBLE DIAL

Published on January 22, 2021January 25, 2021 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

VILLEFRANCHE-DE-CONFLENT is a small medieval walled town in Catalan country. It is watched over by Fort Liberia, one of VAUBAN‘s massive defensive constructions in this historically strategic area. The town is charming, and additionally famous for being the start of the ‘Train Jaune’, a picturesque narrow-gauge railway that climbs high into the Pyrénées. The amazing altitude rise is from 1250 ft at Villefranche to 5000 ft at the track’s summit just above the village of Mont Louis (which has its own Vauban fort)

The sundial above is high up on a house in the church square, next to the Mairie with its Catalan flag. It doesn’t exactly draw the eye and would be very easy to miss. Its overall appearance is endearingly wonky.

TWO DIALS IN ONE

The main dial is etched and painted on cement, with roman numerals that mark hours, halves and quarters. The long gnomon is attached beneath a small sculpted head from which sun rays radiate – a simple representation of a solar deity. Above the head can be seen numbers, of which only 11 and 8 can be made out with any certainty. Possibly, it is a date: the dial (which is not ancient) is otherwise undated and it is very hard to guess its age. I can find no explanation for the initials DS (top left, Gothic font) and ER (top right, normal font).

The small dial-within-a-dial with graduated radials shows the hours only, with arabic numerals. The bent gnomon points straight down. I am unsure of its purpose as a supplementary – and rather overshadowed – dial on the same plane, but the overall effect is pleasing.

INSCRIPTION

The words “COM MES SOL FA MES BE ESCRIC” are Catalan and mean roughly “When it is sunny, I write (show the time) well”. This rather charming inscription was apparently added in around 2000 by the village pastor.

Credit: for information, Michel Lalos, who has compiled a comprehensive illustrated record of the sundials of the Pyrénées-Orientales.

STANTON GLOS (1) – VILLAGE CROSS SUNDIAL

Published on January 11, 2021January 19, 2021 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

Village Cross with Sundial – Stanton Glos

STANTON is a most attractive Cotswold village four miles north of Winchcombe, with several other equally agreeable villages nearby – Stanway for example. Many of the local churches feature scratch dials – this area (and Glos. in general) being a hotspot. I will cover some of these in due course.

The Church of St Michael has – besides a scratch dial – a sundial over the porch. In addition, Stanton has a fine sundial in the main street, mounted on the village cross. The cross is a Grade II listed Scheduled Monument, with Calvary steps that are medieval and formed the base of a Wayside cross. The shaft is later, and the dial, orb and cross perhaps later still. The sundial, dated to C17, is just one part of the harmonious whole. It’s a fine dial but there are obvious reservations about the gnomon and its fixing…

LOCATION 52.0067 / -1.9013 / SP068342

GSS Category – Old Dial

HARDINGTON MANDEVILLE – ST MARY

Published on January 9, 2021January 20, 2021 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

DEDICATION † ST MARY – 1123 (on earlier site)

LISTING † II*

LOCATION † SW of Yeovil, near E & W Coker 50.9048 / -2.6949 / ST512119

An extended village close to the A30 yet approached by lanes (as they are actually named) rather than roads. A peaceful feel to it, especially at dusk when this poor photo was taken. The church had ‘much work’ carried out in C15 and C18. Tower probably of 1123, in three stages, font possibly from same date. BLB

DIAL † At the W. end and quite easily overlooked. DEH did not investigate or list it in 1915. A full circle, one clear radial and a square style hole. Possible trace of outer circle top left.

NOTES † Not mentioned in BLB, HE. Not in TWC extensive list of Somerset dials. I found only one reference to this dial that led me here; since then, one passing reference to a sundial in the porch – perhaps this dial relocated in C15?