Dials featured under this heading mostly date from mid c19 to the present day. The last 25 years have seen a proliferation in dial making, not least because of the advent of the new century, with its pleasing Roman date MM. Most of these are excellent and exciting, or at least attractive and interesting (a few are dire, and will be ignored).
MAGDALENE COLLEGE . CAMBRIDGE
Full post HERE
MARNHULL . DORSET . DIAL HOUSE
Canted dial, modern appearance and condition, evidence that it is a copy of an earlier dial.
Full post HERE
KIRKANDREW . LONGTOWN . CUMBRIA
FULL POST HERE
MINTERNE HOUSE . DORSET
A sundial on the terrace of this fine C17 house. Full post HERE
WILDLIFE & WETLANDS CENTRE . BARNES . LONDON
A memorial sundial for Max Nicholson (1904 – 2003), founder of the World Wildlife Fund WWF. Nicholson was a pioneering ornithologist, environmentalist, and conservationist. It was designed by his son Piers. LINK TO POST
WATTS GALLERY . COMPTON . SURREY
Scaphe Dial with cupid, with pedestal by Mary Watts. LINK TO POST
ST STEPHEN . CHARLTON MUSGROVE . VERTICAL DIAL 1916
A modern dial dated 1916 set into the apex of the porch with the inscription Vigilate et Orate (Watch and Pray). The dial shows hours, half-hours, and quarter-hours. Each hour line ends in a small arrowhead. The dial stone is slightly canted and the footing of the gnomon is on the 11 line for accuracy. The noon line is emphasised with a deeper incision.
STOKE ST GREGORY . SOM . VERTICAL DIAL c1885?
As plain a dial as you could wish to find, yet casting a strong shadow. BSS view is that it dates from the 1880s restoration and it doesn’t look as if the dial has been touched since then. It’s worth noting that the lamp bracket also works effectively as a plain unmarked dial.
AMSTERDAM . PRINSENGRAGHT
An attractive memorial dial (1993) on a street corner by a canal, with a stork for company
ST SWITHUNS . CLUNBURY . SHROPSHIRE
Breakarch shaped stone dial inset into stonework of tower, above the window, with scrolled gnomon support. It declines 12 degrees East . BSS Register
The dial is very recent, with a conventional face and a very effective scroll gnomon that, late in the day, casts a pleasingly long shadow. Before installation of the new dial, the BSS register shows the previous incarnation (below).
MILLENNIUM STAINED GLASS WINDOW by JOHN HAYWARD
CHELSEA OLD CHURCH . LONDON
I include the dial below in this section because, strictly, it is a modern dial. However it is a faithful restoration of the original of 1692. The church was flattened by bombs in 1941. My parents were married here the previous year. The neatly-rhyming motto Ut Vita Finis Ita seems (pace MG but mis-dated) to be unique:
| 1539. | UT VITA FINIS ITA. 1652. As the life is so is its end.On the tower of Chelsea Old Church. The dial has lately been repaired, and also the brick tower. Sir Thomas More lies buried in the church. |
GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE . CAMBRIDGE
FULL POST LINK
WAYFORD . SOMERSET
A slight disappointment here. From a distance this dial, on a splendid C16 house, looked much older than its actual date. But in warm sunlight, set in honeyed stone, it looks just fine whenever it was made.
WEYMOUTH . DORSET
A well-cut and dignified memorial stone sited close to the Dorset Wildlife Trust centre in Weymouth, near the start of the Chesil Bank.
PIDDLEHINTON . DORSET
CÉRET . FRANCE
HOLNEST . DORSET
BBS ENTRY The dial is above the porch. It shows 6am to 4pm in 30min marks, using XII and IV. Pierced cast bronze gnomon. Lettering and lines incised and painted black. Fixed with stainless steel bolts.
INSCRIPTION Holnest Parish 2000 This is overlaid in part by the Great Crested Newt which is in relief. The newt is seen as a salvation. Its presence in the parish resulted in it being declared an SSI – so diverting a proposed rubbish tip. Funds from the grazing income of that land paid for the dial.
Holnest . Dorset . Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin . Millennial Dial (self-dating)
RUSSBOROUGH HOUSE . WICKLOW . IRELAND – COURTYARD GATEWAY DIAL
TRELISSICK GARDENS . CORNWALL
WESTON BAMPFYLDE . HOLY CROSS . SOMERSET
A memorial horizontal dial in the churchyard of this attractive small church made by Silas Higgon, a well-known dial-maker. It will be of particular interest to those who understand (not me) the finer details. While you admire it, look inside the porch and on RHS of the original door is a very clear scratch dial which you can read about HERE
Holy Cross . Western Bampfylde . Somerset
ST MARY . BUCKNALL . SHROPS
Horizontal dial in the churchyard. It seems unlikely to date from 1712 and I can’t find the motto Thyme Paseth elsewhere (it’s not in MG). It is a pretty design with a nice coloration.
St Mary . Bucknall . Shrops
ST POL DE LEON . PAUL . CORNWALL
ST NICHOLAS . NETHER COMPTON . DORSET
ST PETER AD VINCULA . BROAD HINTON. WILTS
Probably added during late C19 restoration. Angled dial face.
FULHAM ROAD . LONDON . MILLENNIUM DIAL
LAVAUDIEU . AUVERGNE . FRANCE
SÉES . NORMANDY . FRANCE
A modern dial on the facade of the Musée départemental d’Art Religieux, close to the fine Cathedral. Painted on rendering. A somewhat selfish motto Sol nos alios umbra (for us, sunshine; for everyone else, shade).
YVOIRE . LAC LÉMAN . FRANCE – ST PANCRACE
Modern dial in a medieval village, part of a restoration of the church of St Pancras which has C12 origins. A few traces of the early church are visible.
NEWTON ST CYRES . ST CYR & ST JULLITA . DEVON
Commemorating the early C19 incumbent 1813-18. The dial is in an unusual location and at an unusual angle facing SE (assuming standard church orientation). It would be interesting to know how accurate it is, especially as the day progresses.
Photos: John Renner
GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN 