GV II* C13 origins with some C15 work but drastically restored in 1875 BLB. Fine chest tombs. Village of historical importance as a bell-foundry between C16 and C18, originating with the Purdue family. Notable bells survive from its earliest days eg. Wells Cathedral. Somerset / Dorset border 50.8883 / -2.6214 / ST563100
DIAL
An agreeable churchyard dial in a pretty setting. Missing its gnomon, possibly vandalised (cf Lillington quite nearby). The dial plate is a familiar design, though without a maker’s mark or other indication of its origins.
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TOMB OF WILLIAM COLLINS, 1609
HERE . LYETH . THE . BODIE . OF . WILLIAM . COLLINS . THE . SONNE . OF . ELLIS . COLLINS . WHO DIED . THE . XXIX . OF . IAN . ANO . DOMI . 1609
GRADE II* ✣ C14 / C15. Pleasantly situated by the Manor. Note that the church is up a driveway the opposite side of the busy road from the signposted village itself. 50.9335 / -2.8843 / ST379152
DIAL
The Whitelackington dial eluded me a year ago when I was looking at several churches either side of the road between Yeovil and Taunton. Cricket at SCC was due to start and took precedence. Having in mind that DEH was enthusiastic enough to include a photo of the dial (taken 5 Sep 1912) in his pioneering treatise, I knew I should try again, and harder.
As it turned out, the dial was invisible until parting the branches of a yew hedge on the Manor side. The S side of St Mary blends into the Manor gardens and It feels sightly transgressive to be poking about in the greenery.
DEH’s RECORD
115 YEARS LATER
Photo 3 shows the features noted by DEH, including the possible noon hole in the lower joint
THE BUTTRESS
GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Hidden Dial
All photos: Keith Salvesen except B&W, Dom Ethelbert Horne
GRADE I ✣ Late C13, records from 1334. A charming small church, with its 3 bells hung on wheels. A plaque lists 19 men who returned safely from WW1; it is a ‘Doubly Thankful’ village with no casualties in WW2 either. See also neighbouring STOCKLINCH OTTERSEY, a closely linked church. Close to Barrington Court NT. 50.9508 / -2.8797 / ST383171
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DIAL
The dial is perched on the apex of the squat porch. It is square, significantly canted, and with ‘shoulders’ upon which rests a ball finial. Given its exposed position, the dial is in good condition. BSS dates it to 1612. There is a clear-cut semicircle with a full complement of lines, and with pocks marking the half hours.
CANTING
GNOMON ANGLES
INSCRIBED MOTTO
The words WATCH AND PRAY are inscribed above the dial face. Erosion and lichen have made it hard to see. Below the dial are the words REDEEME THE TIMES, with the final S fitted in above the line. The numerals – damaged LHS – are Arabic.
GRADE I † Early Church recorded at HestrebeDB. C12 origin as collegiate church; continuing development to C16; mid-C19 restoration (Butterfield). C13 work of particular note. One of the excellent churches to be found in the Wylye valley between Steeple Langford and Sutton Veny. 51.1821 / -2.1086 / ST925425
DIAL
The dial is on the SE face of the angled buttress at E end (by the green tank). It is a fine example of a dial on which all the lines have terminal pocks. At some time it was inverted, and I have shown it reverted below. I cannot find any record of it, BSS or elsewhere.
REVERSION
This dial is primarily a morning dial, with lines marking (in clock terms) the 5 hours from 8 to noon. The deeper lines marking 9 & 10 correspond to the morning Mass time Terce. Possibly, the fainter line LRQ indicates None, another significant time during the day’s observations. In all there are 9 visible lines with terminal pocks during daytime, and a hint of a line above the horizontal in URQ. The vertical ‘midnight’ groove above the gnomon hole can be discounted as part of the dial, I think. It is certainly out of keeping with the carefully thought overall design. Also, it doesn’t reach the gnomon hole.
PLAUSIBLE DIAL?
I noticed this patterned stone and photographed it as I walked past. I would very much like it to be a ‘pock-only’ dial. There is certainly a hole close to the centre of the stone, with a pattern of small holes that look crudely drilled, approximately forming a perimeter. Probably I am overthinking this.
CHURCH MARKS
Here is a selection of church marks – masons’ marks, consecration cross; ‘pilgrim’ crosses; graffiti; a small dial-like design that merits further investigation.
GRAFFITI INCLUDING RITUAL PROTECTION SYMBOLS
GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Church Marks; Consecration Cross; Masons’ marks; Pilgrim Cross; Graffiti
GRADE II* † C13 (of which traces), C15, major C19 restoration. An attractive church to visit, close to Barrington Court NT. 50.9606 / -2.8884 / T377182
DIAL
DEH visited in Sept 1912 and recorded: The dial is on the W side of the Priest’s door… 2 early A.M. lines are all that show but the stone is badly weathered and others may have been on it.
The erosion is doubtless worse now. One can just about make out a short horizontal 6-line L side, and a trace line below. Without DEH’s pioneering scratch dial project, I doubt that this little dial would ever have achieved a later mention.
An extraordinary and diverse collection of dials on a lovely church that is a short walk from the dreaded A303. The village is the first traffic choke-point on the road W of Stonehenge. Who would guess, inching forwards in your car where pedestrians daily take a life-or-death decision when to cross, that a lane to the south offers such a rich treat?
DIALS
St Peter is a multiple scratch dial church. Estimates vary of precisely how many: perhaps 8 or 9, depending on individual interpretation. BSS records 4. The range of plausibility covers all bases: obvious dials, probable dials, possible dials, not-a-dials. Some candidates – whole or partial – may simply be decorative. Others look promising but are unlikely to work as dials in design or (present) position. I have grouped various candidates, accepting that my choices may be lightly contentious. Note that I have mostly not specified locations. I started (2 visits) on the SE corner, if that helps. I have given links below with helpful details. Anyway, a multi-dial church is always a pleasing challenge for locating them.
DIAL 1
A simple dial on a RHS window jamb, consisting of 2 circles and a central gnomon hole. The double rings, badly eroded, look compass drawn. There are no visible lines, nor any pocks.
DIAL 2
On a LHS window jamb, a plugged gnomon hole with very little else remaining. Enlarging the image reveals a faint trace of what might once have been a circle; and the ghost of a noon line.
DIAL 3
A much clearer dial on a quoin stone, though quite badly eroded. Originally it was presumably a complete circle of lines with terminal pocks. Only about 12 lines and 9 pocks are visible.
DIAL 4
Another quoin stone dial, with 2 lines emerging downwards from the gnomon hole, diverging either side of noon. L line possibly has a terminal pock; R line is badly eroded, barely visible. It’s hard to make sense of the bent grooves LLQ – somewhat pointless as parts of a dial.
DIAL 5
Dials 5, 6, and 7 are collected together in corner, one above the other. Dial 5 is at the top. Heavy-handed repairs have been carried out in this area. The gnomon hole is in the mortar line, with 4 defined radials and traces of 1 or 2 more. There’s a hint of an arc LRQ, perhaps the remains of a semi-circle.
DIAL 6
The lowest dial of the 3. Again the gnomon is in the mortar line. It looks as though the dial stone must have split vertically at some time. 3 lines LRQ, the noon line less deeply cut. The single line LLQ corresponds to the Mass time Terce.
DIAL 7 (?)
Dial 7 is (as others note) a doubtful dial, and I share reservations. It would certainly work in a most rustic way, with a stick in the large hole and the smaller indentation below denoting noon. However, in a multi-dial church one might expect something rather more complex or decorative..
DIAL 8 (?)
Again, this design is taken to be a dial, which it may well be. I’ve never seen one quite like it, with a short arc at one side with no sign of a semi- or complete circle. The large deep hole has a minimal cut at noon, hardly a call to prayer. I wonder if this is in fact apotropaic in purpose, a protection symbol to ward off evil.
DIAL 9 (?)
I originally discounted this as a dial but reviewing photographs made me look more closely. The slapped-on filler helps to the extent that it suggests a gnomon hole in the mortar line that was large enough to need filling. There is a faint near-vertical that might be a noon line with a pock to mark it; and a hint of a line with a pock at roughly 9 / Terce. Doubtful.
SEMI-CIRCLES
Although these semi-circles are generally included in mentions of the dials of St Peter’s, I have reservations, in particular for the double circle in the fine archway. It is very large for a scratch dial, and the church is quite small to require such a one. There are no marks – radials, pocks, numbers – to suggest use as a dial. I wonder if is an example of simple compass-drawn decoration on a large scale. Also the blocked door and its arch are set back, with a buttress in front on either side. The position is a most unlikely one for enabling the community to mark the passage of the day.
This double semi-circle is more dial-ish, but is still quite large, with (it seems) damage but no relevant dial marks. Too small in diameter to be the other half of the semicircle above.
A segment of a single circle on the edge of a clean-edged stone, clearly re-sited at some time. If a dial, one would expect there to be lines / pocks in the lower half ie from 6 to noon.
NOT-A-DIALS
I include these without conviction that any one of them is a dial. The top one, similar to Dial 8 above and on the same kind of stone, is simply a shallow hole. There’s no hint of another relevant mark.
A very helpful analysis by the Parish Council of the dials of St Peter is recommended HERE
GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Multiple Dials
All photos: Keith Salvesen; Winterbourne Stoke PC (A. Shuttleworth)
The barn is part of Gorwell Farm about 3m N of Abbotsbury, deep within the folds of steep hills, with ancient trackways, a stone circle, and strewn with sarsen stones. It has several uses, including as an excellent wedding venue; a lecture venue in particular for historical, geological, and similar types of research; and an educational centre.
The barn is C17 and has been sympathetically restored. During the process, work on the interior walls uncovered a fine hexfoil, and stones with graffiti and other marks. These are usually associated with churches, but barns were also ornamented in this way.
This is not a dial post, but it fits in with the ancillary purpose of including related matters of interest (see MENU and the various subcategories)
HEXFOIL
Hexfoils (hexafoils), also called daisy wheels or petals, are not uncommon. They are mostly found in churches; less often in secular buildings. Generally they are compass-drawn and symmetrical. There are three main theories to explain them, not mutually exclusive.
1. A form of Consecration Cross (an attribution given eg to the fine hexfoil at St Mary, Cerne Abbas, Dorset below). However, the many thousands of conventional crosses on churches all over the country suggest that there would be little need for a large daisy wheel except perhaps in a significant church. Often there are several on a church, each marking a particular event such as a Bishop’s visit or blessing. The maximum is generally 12, though a few churches (eg St Mary, Holnest, Dorset) have 14.
2. Symbols created by masons in the course of construction, a theory debunked firmly by medieval graffiti expert Matthew Champion on several irrefutable grounds.
3. Ritual protection marks (apotropaic symbols) designed to ward off / neutralise evil. To this can be added the concept of the Demon Trap whereby evil is confined within the circle – a line with no end – rendering it powerless.
Hexfoil . St Mary . Cerne Abbas . Dorset
‘4-LEAF CLOVER’ and GEOMETRIC SYMBOLS
I haven’t found such a clear example of a 4-petal style before. It is both decorative and protective: again, evil is attracted to it and then caught by the unbroken lines. Strengthening the case, the design to the left is an eroded example of a fairly common protection mark. These involve a geometric shape – usually a rectangle – with a pattern of joined dots. More complex ones look something like a square solitaire board.
SEMICIRCLE
This looks compass drawn. There is a hole on the lowest part of the circumference which – if a sundial – would be significant as marking noon.
The oblong dial is located high up on the south side of the Basilica. Its modern design contrasts notably with its setting. I can imagine some debate over modern versus traditional styles. It was installed in 2020; a caption refers to renovation.
The dial’s height and size makes it very visible. John Renner, who took these photos, suggests convincingly that there must always have been a dial of some sort there, I’d have thought, to be visible to the friars from their cloister and help them say their hours on time. I have now managed to locate a photo taken from the cloister of an earlier dial with a much simpler day-marker. Probably it replaced an even earlier one.
The details of the new dial include 4 signs of the Zodiac; 2 midday roman numerals; 1/2 hours marked with pale arrowed lines; and a fairly traditional motto. The most interesting feature is the gnomon, which is tilted for accuracy and looks adjustable. As the photos clearly show, the sun’s rays are focused through a small hole onto the dial face – here, at exactly 9.30 am.
See HERE for the Scaphe Dial in the Padua Botanical Gardens (one of 3 dials there)
Basilica of St Anthony . Padua . Wiki
GSS Category: Modern Dial; Vertical Dial; Dials in Italy
All photos: John Renner, with thanks as always; Expedia for the old dial
GRADE II* † C12 – C15; Wyatt restoration 1864. Myra (as Church Notice Board; OBS); also, Mira. Charming small church in Little Langford (not nearby Steeple Langford as mostly given in refs) down a side road off a side road. A pleasure to visit and of considerable interest. C12 font bowl; a fine tympanum with symbolic carvings; a large hexfoil re-sited high up on E end N quoin; and – most relevant here – an excellent scratch dial re-sited as quoin stone low down W end of N side (cf Litlington E Sx). 51.1288 / -1.933 / SU047366
DIAL
Re-purposed, inverted, and making a fine quoin stone. 9 lines (2 faint). Deeper cut noon line. An afternoon dial presumably with Observance ± None.
HEXFOIL
Very visible once noticed re-sited high up N side of E end
TYMPANUM
Well worth examining closely to work out the symbolism before looking it up on HE / BLB
This wonderful example of a scaphe dial is one of 3 dials in the Botanical Gardens of Padua. There is also a cube dial and a cylinder dial (separate post). This first-ever public garden* was created in 1545, and the original layout has been preserved. This is not the space for a short wander round, but there’s plenty of interesting material online. It has been an important centre for scientific research since its inception and, unsurprisingly, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
*Pisa’s botanical garden was actually completed a year earlier but disqualified on a technicality that I haven’t pursued.
GSS Category: Scaphe Dial; Botanical Garden Sundial; Europe Dials
GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN 