GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN

CODFORD . WILTS . ST PETER – Scratch Dial

Published on September 19, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

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

Published on September 18, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

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

Published on September 16, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

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)

Published on September 15, 2023September 26, 2023 by Rolling Harbour2 Comments

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

Published on September 14, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

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

Published on September 8, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

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

Published on September 5, 2023September 8, 2023 by Rolling Harbour1 Comment

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)

Published on September 2, 2023September 2, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

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

STOCKLINCH OTTERSEY . SOM . ST MARY – Scratch Dial

Published on August 31, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST MARY . STOCKLINCH OTTERSEY . SOM

GRADE II* † Mainly C13, C14. Norman font. Alone on a hillside, accessible only on foot. Originally a separate parish from the close-by village of Stocklinch Magdalene; later amalgamated; now redundant and in the care of CCT. 3m NE of Ilminster. 50.9535 / -2.8813 / ST381174

DIAL

DEH visited St Mary in September 1912, one of his earliest field trips from Downside Abbey on his motorcycle in search of scratch dials. As he described it there is a doubtful dial on the E side of the Priest’s door. It is in a likely position, but the stone is so badly weathered that no lines can be traced upon it. To which I can only add even less so 100+ years later, especially with lichen obscuring scrutiny.

I include this record both because St Mary repays a visit for its location alone, and for completeness. Very close is the small Church of Stocklinch Magdalene, and it’s a short distance to BARRINGTON church with 4 scratch dials; and Barrington Court (NT) which has 2 outstanding pillar dials in the gardens.

On the same side of the priest’s door, 2 stones lower, is a smaller apparently drilled hole with some sort of lining (?), but also no dial-ish features.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

BASILICA di SANTA MARIA NOVELLA . FLORENCE – Danti’s Armillary Sphere

Published on August 28, 2023August 28, 2023 by Rolling Harbour1 Comment

SANTA MARIA NOVELLA . FLORENCE . ARMILLARY SPHERE

EGNAZIO DANTI* 1536 – 1586 (also, Ignazio), Dominican monk and polymath, became renowned for his wide learning and intellectual precision. He was a mathematician, cartographer, astronomer (some say ‘cosmographer’) to Cosimo I, and much more. There’s plenty about him – and indeed about his 3 very different dials at SMN – online.

Recommended sites for an informed overview of the dial include that of the Basilica itself SMN.IT; also ARTELEONARDO and ACCADEMIAGALLERY

For those wishing to dig deep into the complex analysis and the historical context of the dial, you can do no better than study the lead article by Simone Bartolini & Marco Pierozzi in the BULLETIN OF THE BRITISH SUNDIAL SOCIETY VOLUME 22(iv) – December 2010. You can download it.

ARMILLARY SPHERE

The armillary sphere consists of two perpendicular bronze circles with a diameter of 1.30 cm. The vertical one represents the meridian and indicates the exact moment when the sun is at its highest point, noon. On the equinox day, these two circles create a cross-shaped shadow, while elongated circle shadows are formed on other days. (AG)

REFORMATION OF THE CALENDAR

Danti’s sphere was installed on the S facade of the SMN in 1572. This device enabled him to determine the equinox precisely, and thus the true length of the year. Measurements the following spring confirmed the conjecture that the equinox was earlier than indicated by the Julian calendar, in fact by 11 days. As Wiki (always good on this sort of topic) puts it: The reforms of Julius Caesar in 45 BC put the Roman world on a solar calendar. This Julian calendar was faulty in that its intercalation still allowed the astronomical solstices and equinoxes to advance against it by about 11 minutes per year. Pope Gregory XIII introduced a correction in 1582; the Gregorian calendar was only slowly adopted by different nations over a period of centuries, but it is now by far the most commonly used calendar around the world.