WYLYE . WILTS . ST MARY – Scratch Dial (2)

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ST MARY . WYLYE . WILTS

GRADE II* † C13 origins; C15 expansion; 1846 rebuilding by Wyatt. Wonderful pulpit. Well positioned beside an excellent pub to quench congregational thirst after righteousness. An ideal peaceful country church, despite being just S of the hectic A303 raceway. 51.1389 / -1.9898 / SU008377

DIAL 1


I very recently featured the inverted dial on the nave wall, tucked away quite low down on E side of the buttress.

Almost immediately I was contacted by Lee Baines, pointing out that I’d missed a mass dial in poor condition (but at least right way up) with standard three radials in SW quadrant. By chance I was passing Wylye yesterday, and I am pleased to be able to correct the omission so soon.

DIAL 2

The dial is a good example of a less common feature. The joint between 2 stones acts as an emphasised noon line, with the gnomon hole in the mortar line above it. The mortar line doubles as a 6-to-6 line. There are 3 lines in LLQ, neither straight nor accurately leading to the gnomon hole. The deeper cut line corresponds approximates the Mass time Terce. The overall lack of finesse of this rustic dial suggests that it is rather earlier than Dial 1.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen; many thanks to Lee Baines for pointing out my omission

FISHERTON DE LA MERE . WILTS . ST NICHOLAS – Scratch Dial

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ST NICHOLAS . FISHERTON de la MERE. WILTS

GV II* † C12 origins; C13 records; C15; restorations 1833 J Davis, 1861 W Hardwick; and 1912. Now redundant. Cast-iron plaque records 1833 rebuilding. Surprisingly large for a small community hidden away on the banks of the Wylye river (nb close to a very busy A303 intersection; check a map or you may miss the little side-road and could be going back and forth for some time. Close to Wylye. 51.146 / 51°8’45″N / -2 / 2°0’0″W  SU000385

DIAL

Part of the original dial stone was at some stage relocated and reused as a building block in a most unexpected place. You will find it N side, low down on the side of a buttress, facing W. In its working days, it must have been a fine marker of the passage of the day.

From the visible fragment one can tell that the dial was almost certainly cut over 2 (or more?) stones. The double circle – faintly seen RHS – gives an idea of the overall size.

Rotation of the stone 90º anticlockwise reveals well-defined XI – noon – I lines

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

CODFORD . WILTS . ST PETER – Scratch Dial

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ST PETER . CODFORD . WILTS

GV II* † C13, C15, 1863 restoration by T.H. Wyatt. PEV notes Very well preserved C9 Saxon cross shaft with fine carving… against north wall of chancel. Worth visiting close-by St Mary (no dial), an agreeable church. 7m SE of Warminster. 51.1586 / -2.0503 /  ST965399

DIAL

An enigma: the dial recorded for St Peter gives the details shown below. However at the position and height specified is a single hole drilled near the centre of the stone. There are no markings whatsoever that I could make out. I looked at similar locations on the S side without success.

Chancel, S wall, to R of priest door. Height 1.4m. Worn.
Dial (Norman?) with tides, with duodec., sometimes both. Mason-cut or roughly scratched

I realise this is a disappointing post. On balance I decided it would be worth writing up. This visit was part of a 3-day project with the Wylye Valley churches. I also failed to locate the dial at nearby Knook; and I didn’t get a full score for the multiple dials noted at Stockton (17) and Sutton Veny (9). There were a couple of new finds to even up the score. Not all older records are accurate; then again, neither am I… Any guidance with the dial(s) on this Church would be welcome.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

STEEPLE LANGFORD . WILTS . ALL SAINTS – MILLENNIUM SUNDIAL

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ALL SAINTS . STEEPLE LANGFORD . WILTS

GRADE I † C13 origins; C14, C15 development; extensive restoration 1873 (Carpenter). C12 font. 3 scratch dials (separate post). 10m NW of Salisbury. 51.1363 / -1.9493 / SU036374

DIAL

The dial is 10′ up on the SE corner of the nave. Gold lines on slate ground. Open gnomon. Numerals not gold. Date at top with scrolls all in Red. Uses XII and IV, with all numerals vertically arranged, and shows 6am to 6pm in half hours. Lines drawn from small semicircle at root. Full length half hour lines (BSS).

This is a fine MM dial and a pleasure to walk towards. Hopefully the gnomon can soon be pegged back into the upper hole, making the time of day easier to determine.

GSS Category: Vertical Dial; Millennium Dial; Dial Dates

All photos: Keith Salvesen

GREAT WISHFORD . WILTS . ST GILES – Circular Vertical Dial

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ST GILES . GREAT WISHFORD . WILTS

GRADE II* † C13 origins; C15 tower; C19 restorations esp by Wyatt, some work reflecting the older styles. PEV – with an eye for quirks – notes Manual fire engine said to be early C18. 4m N of Wilton. 51.1188 / -1.8863 / SU080355

VERTICAL DIAL

On a recent trip to the Wylye Valley to look at specific churches for scratch dials, I passed through Great Wishford. I stopped, not because I expected to find a scratch dial, but because I noticed an unusual circular dial on the E end – something like a satellite dish for receiving the sun’s rays. I hope someone will enjoy working out how the dial works in practice; or even whether, in its position and at that angle, it is accurate.

My amateur skills fall well short of understanding how the dial works in the technical sense. The position and angles of the dial and gnomon seem all wrong. The numbering, too. On a dull day I was fortunate to catch a moment when the sun cast a shadow.

GSS Category: Vertical Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

WYLYE . WILTS . ST MARY – Scratch Dial (1)

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ST MARY . WYLYE . WILTS

GRADE II* † C13 origins; C15 expansion; 1846 rebuilding by Wyatt. Well positioned next to an excellent pub for congregational thirst after righteousness. An ideal peaceful country church, despite being just S of the hectic A303 raceway. 51.1389 / -1.9898 / SU008377

Addendum: just after posting this, I was told of a dial I had missed (thanks, Lee). By coincidence we were driving past Wylye the next day. Separate post for Dial 2 HERE

DIAL

The dial is on the nave wall, tucked away quite low down on E side of the buttress where the tower joins the nave. It is upside down, suggesting that the stone was reused during building work – a plausible theory is that inversion indicated that a dial had outlived its original purpose.

REVERTED DIAL

Assuming a 180º turn, this is an afternoon dial, with the lines in the quadrant R of the noon line indicating the important part of the day for observance corresponding with the canonical hour None.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

CHITTERNE OLD CHURCH (Chapel of St Mary) . WILTS – Scratch Dial

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CHAPEL OF ST MARY (CHITTERNE OLD CHURCH) . WILTS

GRADE II* † St Mary recorded by at least 1319, date of the first known vicar. Chancel built c.1450; survived demolition of the rest of the church; used as a mortuary chapel. NB this is not Wyatt’s fine flint and limestone church of 1863, All Saints, in the centre of the village. You will have to seek out this tiny single cell churchlet – with its impressively large churchyard – via a narrow path behind a dejected-looking pub. 51.1943 /  -2.0163 / ST989438-

DIAL

St Mary has a single dial R of first window. It would be easy to overlook – unusually for a scratch dial it is 2.5m high. Centred in dial stone, with 9 lines encircled in a double ring.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

MILTON ABBAS . DORSET – Two Scratch Dials

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MILTON ABBAS . DORSET

Milton Abbey, more properly called ‘The Abbey Church of St Mary, St Sansom* and St Branwalader**, is a former Benedictine monastery founded in c10. The present building dates from the c14 and c15. The Abbey, with a post-reformation country house attached where the monastic buildings used to be, is now a school. 

DIALS

The Abbey has two dials, both on the S face of the SE turret at the end of S transept. Dial 1 – the most intriguing – is some 3m high. Dial 2 is 1m below it, and lichen makes reading it very difficult. Both dials were recorded in 2000 as C14. Dial 1 is unusual, not least because of its condition after C7s.

DIAL 1

Dial 1 is inverted, clearly repositioned. Within a double semicircle are 13 lines radiating from a large filled gnomon hole. Within the 2 rings, each line terminates in a black letter Roman numeral. BSS records these as (with the dial reverted) Il V VIll IX X – space – II IlI IIII V VI Noon is unmarked but extends slightly beyond the outer circle.

DIAL 2

Dial 2, now significantly obscured by lichen, has 20 lines, again with Roman numerals. Only numerals XI I Il III IV and V were recorded as visible in the 2000 survey. Now, only III can be easily seen. The filled gnomon hole is notably L of centre of the dial stone which is significantly cut off LHS, indicating relocation at some time in its history. Possibly there were other numerals at the end of the truncated lines.

*St Sansom: C6 French Bishop and (later) hermit. A Scilly Isle is named after him. An excellent example of a wandering Celtic monk (ODS). Some relics acquired by King Athelstan for Milton.

**St Branwalader: C6 monk. In early C10 King Athelstan obtained his relics and gave them to the monastery at Milton, Dorset. It was not the whole body but either an arm or his head (ODS)

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Abbey Dial; Roman Numeral Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen; sources include BBS, GLP; and Oxford Book of Saints

BARRINGTON COURT (NT) . SOMERSET: Dodecahedral Dial

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BARRINGTON COURT (NT) . ILMINSTER . SOMERSET

DODECAHEDRAL DIAL WITH PENTAGONAL FACETS

A SPECTACULAR DIAL IN A PERFECT SETTING

BSS RECORD

Located on the south lawn. Dodecahedron dial with pentagonal faces. Two ‘rows’ of five dials. The top row reclines, the bottom row inclines. All lines and numerals are visible, all gnomons are intact and 4mm thick. Overall the dial shows 4am to 8pm in hours. The numerals are Arabic, and are in relief, as is light scroll work on some faces. The dial is mounted 1760 mm high on a stone pedestal. It is surmounted by a weathered lion rampant 460 mm tall. The dial is said to have come from Scotland about 1910. SRN 8046 at East Ruston, Norfolk, appears to be a direct copy of this dial.

LOWER FACETS

UPPER FACETS

MIXED FACETS

GSS Category: Dodecahydron Dial; Polyhedral Dial; Multi-Dial; Cube & Similar Dials

All photos: Keith Salvesen

BATCOMBE . DORSET – ST MARY MAGDALENE (2) . SCRATCH DIAL (unrecorded)

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Batcombe . Dorset . St Mary Magdalene

DEDICATION † St Mary Magdalene. C15 (on the site of a ?C11 church). Mid C18 rebuilding / restoration (after collapsed chancel). A few early fittings. Screen, font, bells, wall tablets of note. Fragment of stone in middle S. buttress of chancel with pre-conquest interlacement BHO.

LISTING † Grade I (Pevsner Dorset 106; BHO)

LOCATION † Remote extended hamlet deep in farming country a few miles SW. of Sherborne and NE. of Dorchester. Nestled under the north flank of a long ridge. Reached by lanes to N. and a very steep narrow lane down from the ridge. The church is immediately below, set into the hillside. 50.8331, -2.543, ST618038

DIAL 2 (new record)

A while ago, I featured a dial, not previously recorded, on the SW face of the LHS buttress by the entrance door. We live close to St Mary but I had never noticed the dial until I saw it in direct evening sunlight, spotting the filled gnomon hole first (see below).

On a visit to the church last week, I looked more carefully at the S doorway. And there was another dial, LHS, that I (and others) had overlooked. It’s a much clearer dial than the first.

St Mary Magdalene . Batcombe . Dorset – Scratch Dial 2

The filled gnomon hole is in the upper half of the dial stone. There are 6 / 7 lines, one with an apparent terminal pock. There is no clear noon line, but the lines from 9 to 12 suggest a significant time of the day for observance. The deeper none line may also mark a mass time mid-pm. There is a very distinct line URQ that ends in a pock but can have had no meaningful role in marking the passage of the day.

More details of the first dial are HERE

Batcombe . Dorset . St Mary Magdalene . Scratch Dial 1

NOTES † A small ritual protection mark – a tiny shield-shaped face – R of the entrance door. Such apotropaic symbols were carved or scratched usually by a door or window or in the porch to prevent evil from entering the church and to repel it from the vicinity.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial

All photos Keith Salvesen