Located on W side of the Peckwater quad. c 1750, recently restored. Its position restricts the marked hour to VII – IV. Described rather harshly as a very plain and severely functional sundial of no great beauty in one source. Its simplicity and clarity in a City with many fine and some most elaborate sundials gives it some distinction.
Several other historic Christ Church dials both in the College and on the Cathedral (including mural dials) are sadly no longer extant. However, John Foad BSS points out that there is an outstanding multiple dial in the Pocock Garden, made by David Brown and installed 1998. There is also a small unobtrusive vertical dial elsewhere. These will have their own post in due course.
Christ Church Cathedral runs on Oxford time, five minutes and two seconds behind GMT. This is presumably a throwback to the late C19 before Standard Time was introduced by Statute, though there may be more arcane collegiate reasons.
To be linked in due course to the 2 modern sundials in the College.
GSS Category: Vertical Dial; Oxford Sundial; University Sundial; Old Sundial (C18)
Trinity College Cambridge . Sundial – view from Master’s Lodge to Great Gate (Keith Salvesen)
TRINITY COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE . GREAT COURT
THE TALE OF TWO DIALS
GRADE II ✣ 1704, dial renewed in 1795 by Edward Troughton of London. Simple stone baluster with moulded base and cap, set on 2 steps. RCHM.
The fine C18 horizontal sundial in Great Court has a long history, and an intriguing twist in its story. Over a period of 3 years I must have walked past or near it thousands of times without giving it a glance. The passage of the day was marked by the chimes of the famous clock, a sound that stays with me even today.
Trinity College Cambridge . Sundial – view towards the Master’s Lodge (Keith Salvesen)
BSS notes that the dial is showing its age to some degree. This rather weathered dial is nevertheless pleasing, equipped as it is with a sturdily elegant gnomon and some nice decorative fleurs de lys marking the half hours between its Roman numerals. The central compass has floral infill and there are Equation of Time rings running anti-clockwise which indicate whether a watch would be faster or slower than the dial.
Trinity College Cambridge . Sundial – view from above (Keith Salvesen)
The description ends with an intriguing footnote:The baluster pedestal on which the dial stands may be the same one which supported an earlier dial by John England (see BSS Register, SRN 5295). Which leads to the story of the original dial that was in place until Troughton’s renewal in 1795.
John England Dial Plate 1704
The image above shows a gnomon-less dial plate made by John England in 1704. Like the pedestal, the plate is octagonal. It was rediscovered in a cupboard in the College in 2002. BSS recorded the find as follows:
Perhaps because of its period of safe keeping, this horizontal brass dial by John England is in excellent condition, though the gnomon is missing. The engraved numerals are clear and the grooves still retain their wax infill. Small screws at the root of the style are conjectured to be pivots for an associated swinging telescope. Shows 4am to 8pm in intervals down to 1 min. Uses XII and IIII. Numerals read from outside the dial. Fleurs de lys half hour markers. Hours written in Arabic too (16-24 and 1-8) with 24 at Noon. Inscription mentions Trinity College. It is now stored in the Wren Library.
Trinity College Cambridge . Sundial – view S towards the Fountain (Keith Salvesen)
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
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.
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
GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN 