ST DEVEREUX / ST DUBRICIUS . nr KILPECK . HEREFS – Scratch Dial

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ST DEVEREUX / ST DUBRICIUS . HEREFS

GRADE II* ❖ C13 nave, C14 west tower and late C14 chancel; mid- to late C19 restorations. Very close to the famous early church at Kilpeck. St Dubricius has just one farm for company. If you are going to Kilpeck, this small church is worth a short visit on the way. 51.9766 / -2.8154 / SO440312

DIAL

The dial is within the porch to the right of the doorway. It is encircled. The whole left half is now very faint. The clear straight line RHS at 3 extends beyond the circumference, suggesting that mid-afternoon marked the significant time of the day. Above it, at 6, a scratched rustic ‘line’. Just below there’s a near-obliterated straight line. With some imagination, there may even be a trace (see close-up) of a noon line. At some stage a copper rod has been used as a gnomon, with the blue coloration spreading below.

I’d like to have discovered when the porch was added, but none of the main resources give this (not even ‘mentioned in Pevsner’).

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Dial within Porch

Credits: All Photographs – Keith Salvesen

PETERCHURCH . CHURCH OF ST PETER . HEREFS – 3 Scratch Dials

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ST PETER . PETERCHURCH . HEREFS

Grade 1 ✣ Foundations date to AD 745; Saxon work visible in sanctuary. Substantially Norman, built mid-C12 as a 4-chambered basilica (cf Kilpeck nearby). C13 – 14 alterations, additions. Restorations from mid C19. Impressive fibre glass spire installed 1970s. It replaces the last of several spire dramas since the original of c1320 was completed (see HERE). Situated in the Golden Valley of Herefs. 52.0412 / -2.9564 / SO344385

DIALS

DIAL 1

RHS of Priest’s door. A morning dial with 5 lines, each with a terminal pock. The noon line – slightly offset – has a pock halfway down.

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DIAL 2 [and 3]

On a substantial buttress, a small dial so basic that I discounted it at first. The 2 lines do not even descend properly from the gnomon hole 3 ins above. The hole looks as though it has been enlarged at some time. I assume it predated and was succeeded by Dial 1.

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DIAGRAMS OF ALL DIALS INCLUDING DIAL 3*

Dial 2: the 2 short lines LHS are near-invisible now. I wonder if they were ever part of a dial.

Dial 3: this morning dial is close to Dial 2, but I missed it. It must be above the coping stone.

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HEREFORDSHIRE DIALS The county is well-served by the excellent small book (1988) by Richard & Catherine Botzum. It covers both scratch dials and conventional church dials, with a few church marks at the end. It is a pleasant read, the sort of book I’d have enjoyed writing.

GSS Category: scratch dial; mass dial; early sundial

Credit: Botzum ‘Herefordshire Scratch & Sundials’

MIDDLE CHINNOCK . SOMERSET . ST MARGARET – 2 Scratch Dials

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POSTED TO BE REVISED

ST MARGARET . MIDDLE CHINNOCK . SOMERSET

GRADE II* ♰ C12 origins with fine Norman arch and tympanum within the early C14 S porch; other early remnants. C14/C15 tower. Subsequent development and restorations; several phases of rebuilding C19. Of note: unusual sundial at the apex of the porch. This will be written up separately. There’s a charming calligraphed guide to the church on which, amongst the highlights, 2 scratch dials are mentioned. Roughly halfway between Yeovil and Crewkerne, on strangely-named Poop Hill. 50.9152 / -2.7523 / ST472131

DIALS

The dials are close together on the E side of the porch. They are plain holes without other visible dial-ish features or adornment – very much in the ‘doubtful’ category. Of note is that Dom Ethelbert Horne, during his exhaustive survey of all Somerset churches in early C20, did not include St Margaret in his records. However, the written church record suggests that scratch dial status was conferred some way into the past, rather than being a recent idea.

The likelihood of 2 dials in one small area, consisting only of a hole with not even a noon line between them, is pretty small. A very simple early dial might be superseded by a separate, more complex one in the fulness of time – sometimes on an adjacent stone. I’m not convinced by this pair. Probably I should find out what the church record reveals.

UPPER DIAL

LOWER DIAL

THE DIAL OVER THE PORCH WILL BE DEALT WITH SEPARATELY

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Gnomon Holes

All photographs: Keith Salvesen

ÉGLISE SAINT-JOHN-BAPTISTE . OMANVILLE-LE-ROQUE . MANCHE . FRANCE – Vertical Dial

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ÉGLISE SAINT-JOHN-BAPTISTE . OMANVILLEVILLE-LE-ROQUE

We visited this church rather late in the day, as dusk was falling. This was one of several vertical sundial churches in the area, but the images were so poor I didn’t use them. Having come across them again and made them somewhat more legible, I am adding them the series. The images speak for themselves, but not very loudly… At least the gnomon hole can be see.

GSS Category: Early vertical sundial France; Sundials Abroad

WINTERBORNE HOUGHTON . DORSET . ST ANDREW – Scratch Dial

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ST ANDREW . WINTERBORNE HOUGHTON . DORSET

GRADE II ✣ C13 origins. Rebuilt 1860s by T H Wyatt, using original material. Perp style with flint, banded brick, and rubble. C15 font. Loose links with owls and Thomas Hardy. A tiny village off the beaten track from Winterborne Stickland (3 scratch dials). 5m SW of Blandford Forum 50.8388 / -2.2566 / ST820043

DIAL

This simple configuration is very close to the category ‘Not-a-Dial’. It is 18″ above ground level, and set into an area of flint. The stone must be a re-sited remnant from the original church or some intermediate restoration. But is it likely ever to have been a marker of the passage of day?

GLP, the expert on the scratch dials of Dorset, puts this dial in the ‘doubtful’ category. He describes the circle with a single line pointing upwards, with a piece of iron (squarish) in the centre. Interestingly, he suggests that the dial might originally have been hand painted rather than having cut lines: there is an example of such a dial at Tolpuddle, quite nearby.

REVERSION

The ‘dial’, reverted, shows that the noon-line extends beyond the circumference, a fairly frequent way of emphasising the importance of that hour. The protruding rusty iron stud is a puzzle. It is accurately centred and perhaps was used to plug a gnomon hole. Possibly it had a purpose as a hook or a hanger now largely rusted away.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Dorset Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen / Rolling Harbour

WINTERBORNE STICKLAND . DORSET . ST MARY: 3 Scratch Dials

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St Mary . Winterborne Stickland . Dorset

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ST MARY . WINTERBORNE STICKLAND . DORSET

GRADE 1 ✣ C13 origins; Tower ± 1600; considerable restoration C18. Scratch Dials 3; Graffiti: C17 & 18 initials & dates on responds of tower arch. 5m S of Blandford. 50.8409 / -2.2363 / ST834046

See separate entry DOUBLE-FACET DIAL ABOVE PORCH

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SCRATCH DIALS

DIAL 1

SE corner of the Chancel. 8 lines with extended noon line. A morning dial, cut in or near LLQ.

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DIAL 2

SE corner of nave buttress. Worn and at first sight just a gnomon hole near the centre of the stone. On closer examination and despite the lichen, a number of lines can be detected (GLP suggests 7).

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DIAL 3

SE corner of nave buttress, immediately above Dial 2 but on a larger and different stone type. Very degraded / eroded, but two downward lines are just visible.

NOTE: GLP, in his comprehensive survey of Dorset scratch dials, considers all 3 dials to be C13

GSS Category: Scratch Dials; Mass Dials; Medieval Sundials; Dorset Scratch Dials

All photos Keith Salvesen; Ref. Gordon Le Pard

ARMILLARY SPHERE PUZZLE

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This is a small dial that has recently come into my possession. It stands (temporarily) on our gnomon-less Barker pedestal dial. Is it:

  1. A good example of a small sphere from the 1930s, once owned by an aunt
  2. A find in an old-style antique shop in Oxfordshire in 2003
  3. An impulsive cheapo eBay purchase a few months ago

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THE FRANCIS BARKER ‘LIBERTY’ PEDESTAL

As featured in the BBS Bulletin

MUNICH . LAIM DISTRICT – Modern Noon Dial

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NOON DIALS

A noon dial / noon mark serves as a method of pinpointing midday, when the sun is at its highest and due south. The origins are ancient. Here, the relevant area is in the centre, flanked by Roman numerals. My maths / science skills are few and I will spare you a rudimentary explanation. The key words are Equation of Time, Analemma, and (my non-technical choice) figure of eight.

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In the centre of the dial is a narrow figure of eight bounded by the numerals. You can just make out the raised bracket that supports a slender gnomon. You can see a small ring through which, at the perfect moment, the sun’s rays strike the face of the dial:

If you want to know more, there is a concise entry at ANALEMMA (Wiki)

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GREEN TEMPLETON COLLEGE OXFORD

A modern (1995) noon-dial commemorating the Bicentenary of the Radcliffe Observatory, designed by the renowned Christopher Daniel, founder of the British Sundial Society. The critical alignment of the sun’s rays are projected onto the surface of the dial at noon (MERIDIES MEDIA), focused by the small ring.

THE COLLEGE’S NOTES

  • It works by using a spot of light cast by the nodus (the gilded sun with a hole in the middle), falling upon the slate dial-plate and tracking from left to right across it.
  • It is declining because the wall it is attached to does not face due south but ‘declines’ away from the compass point
  • Noon-mark means it gives the point at which the sun at its zenith crosses the Greenwich meridian and the Oxford meridian (the vertical white line down the centre of the dial)
  • Mean-time means you can read clock-time from the dial by following the progress of the year along the figure-of-eight marking, known as an analemma or equation of time correction curve. This makes allowances for the effect of variations in the apparent motion of the sun at different times of year.
Screenshot

GSS Category: Analemma; Equation of Time; Munich Sundial; Nodus; University Sundial

CREDIT: John Renner, for another great find from his travels

WINTERBORNE STICKLAND . DORSET . ST MARY: DOUBLE-FACED VERTICAL DIAL

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ST MARY . WINTERBORNE STICKLAND . DORSET

GRADE 1 ✣ C13 origins; Tower ± 1600; considerable restoration C18. A charming country church, seemingly plain but with much to justify its listing. Tomb chamber. 2 (perhaps 3) scratch dials, written up separately. Graffiti: C17 & 18 initials & dates on responds of tower arch. 5m S of Blandford. Close-by St Andrew’s at W/B Houghton makes a pleasant short visit. 50.8409 / -2.2363 / ST834046

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SUNDIAL

A fine double-faced dial on the S. porch gable, angled SE and SW. Both faces match in design, with identical scrolled iron gnomons. BHO dates to C18th. BSS mentions Roman numerals, but I couldn’t find any trace even with close-up photos.

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SW FACE

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SE FACE

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Geograph image from c2010 for comparison of condition of stone and lichen coverage

GSS Category: Vertical Sundial; Double-faced Sundial; Porch Gable Sundial

All photos: Keith Salvesen except last, Geograph 2010

YE SUNDIAL BOOKE by T. Geoffrey W. Henslow M.A. – Selected Illustrations

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A wide variety of reading matter on the subject of dials can be found in the Menu under the name DIAL BOOKS or reached directly by this LINK

DIAL BOOKS

Henslow’s engaging work is available via The Project Gutenberg in eBook format, a simple and costless way to admire his work.



Project Gutenberg's Ye Sundial Booke, by Thomas Geoffrey Wall Henslow

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Title: Ye Sundial Booke

Author: Thomas Geoffrey Wall Henslow

Release Date: March 24, 2019 [EBook #59118]

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