GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN

BEWCASTLE . CUMBRIA – ST CUTHBERT’S CROSS: Early Saxon Sundial

Published on October 27, 2022October 28, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

Bewcastle Cross and Dial . Cumbria . BSS

The famous Bewcastle Anglo-Saxon cross is located in St Cuthbert’s churchyard. It is dated in some sources as C8 and in others as early as C7. Whichever, it is generally believed to be the oldest British sundial. PEV praised it, with the similar Ruthwell cross, as the greatest achievement of their date in the whole of Europe. There is a replica in the British Museum.

There is understandably a mass of online material analysing and explaining the cross, the wonderful carvings, and the meanings to be derived from them. I need to bypass these to focus on the astonishing early sundial incorporated into the elaborate decoration. For other aspects the Wiki entry BEWCASTLE CROSS is a good place to start.

Bewcastle Cross and Dial . Cumbria . Keith Salvesen

THE BEWCASTLE DIAL

The dial is in a prominent position on the upper half of the south face. The BSS record describes the cross as Celtic, with the dial being integral to the overall design. 8 lines are noted, with the vertical line on the right side considered to be a later addition (but see below). The noon line is emphasised by being deeper cut, with 9am even more so and ending (perhaps) in a large hole. The dial must have been easy to read from afar. BSS has 3 close-up images in the archive which give a clear view of the dial and its slightly wider context.

Bewcastle is used as an example in the Wiki entry for the TIDE DIAL The article includes useful explanations and images. These lead to other related topics for those who want to investigate further. More importantly, there is a helpful analysis of the details of the sundial’s design, and how it would have worked in practice. The cross is believed to be in its original position, and one can imagine the way in which the passage of the day would have been marked for the benefit of the community.

The oldest surviving English tide dial is on the 7th- or 8th-century Bewcastle Cross… carved on the south face of a Celtic cross… and is divided by five principal lines into four tides. Two of these lines, those for 9 am and noon, are crossed at the point. The four spaces are further subdivided so as to give the twelve daylight hours of the Romans. On one side of the dial, there is a vertical line which touches the semicircular border at the second afternoon hour. This may be an accident, but the same kind of line is found on the dial in the crypt of Bamburgh Church, where it marks a later hour of the day. The sundial may have been used for calculating the date of the spring equinox and hence Easter.

The Bewcastle Cross Notes by Margaret Gatty in The Book of Sun-Dials

The four faces of the Bewcastle Cross

Bewcastle Cross . Diagram of each face. Eixo Wiki CC

‘Plaster Cast of an Early English Sundial’ . 1930s. (Science Museum)

Plaster cast (mounted in wooden frame) of the sundial on Bewcastle Cross, Cumberland, 670 CE. The day is divided into ‘tides’, which are cut into the stone. The gnomon is missing. Credit: A. J. Lothian

THE RUTHWELL CROSS FOR COMPARISON (it has no dial)

GSS Category: Saxon Dial; Medieval Dial; Column Dial; Unique Dial

Photos: 1, 3, 4 – BSS Archive; 2, 5, 8 – Keith Salvesen; 6 (diagram) Eixo Wiki CC; 7 – Science Museum

MONUMENTAL SUNDIAL . MUSEO GALILEO . FLORENCE

Published on October 18, 2022October 22, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

Lizard / Viper Gnomon of Monumental Dial . Museo Galileo . Florence

MONUMENTAL SUNDIAL . MUSEO GALILEO . FLORENCE

The Museo Galileo‘s Monumental Sundial was built as a mathematical ornament in 2007. The slender bronze column (stele) is in fact formed from two matching columns closely aligned, symbolising day and night. The (mid)day stele faces south, with a vertical meridian line on which the shadow is cast by a lizard’s tail (actually, an imaginary half-lizard, half-viper). The night stele faces north and signifies the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor that enable the Pole Star to be identified.

Monumental Dial . Museo Galileo . Florence

The encircled quadrant design on the pavement at the base of the bronze columns indicates the geographic orientation. This glass base of the gnomon, and also the Zodiac signs in the meridian line (below), are up-lit after dark.

Orientation dial . Monumental Dial . Museo Galileo . Florence

The Museo explains the meridian line in helpfully simple terms: A travertine and brass meridian line is drawn on the pavement, flanked with glass and marble signs of the Zodiac. The meridian line extends for about 15 metres from the museum entrance, where the winter solstice is marked, to the base of the gnomon, where the summer solstice is marked. The travertine curves crossing the meridian line indicate the date. The brass radial lines forming a grid with the two solstitial curves indicate the hours.

The seasons and the four elements are symbolised by the choice of materials: travertine for the earth and autumn; glass for the water and winter; grey stone for the air and spring; bronze for the fire and summer.

LIZARD / VIPER GNOMON ON THE SOUTH FACE OF THE COLUMN

This extraordinary sundial stands by the Arno with the Ponte Vecchio (which itself has a wonderful dial LINK) close by to the west. For anyone with even a minuscule interest in or curiosity about the gradual development of scientific instruments and techniques from medieval times onwards, pay a visit to the excellent online gallery LINK. Look in particular for the two astronomical telescopes made by Galileo himself.

The North American Sundial Society has very good online information about this unique dial. You can watch a short animation of how this gnomonic sundial works here LINK

For those interested in finer details of the way the dial works, the museum’s detailed account is included at the end of this article.

Museo Galileo – Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza

Museo Galileo – Monumental Sundial

NASS (North American Sundial Society) Video: Filippo Camerota, Luise Schnabel, Giorgio Strano

How the Sundial works

The shadow cast by the glass polyhedron atop the large bronze gnomon indicates the date and time. The hours from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM are marked out by radial brass lines. The date is indicated by the travertine traversal lines which mark the Sun’s diurnal course for various periods of the year – precisely when the Star enters the signs of the Zodiac. The shadow cast by the gnomon changes in length during the course of the days and seasons, and indicates true solar time for the place where it is located, which is a different time than that of our wristwatches, known as mean time. In respect to mean time, true solar time has a periodic variation that can exceed a quarter of an hour.

Moreover, during daylight saving time, the hands of a clock are moved forward one hour. For example, true midday in the month of February would be indicated by the sundial around 12:28 AM while in the month of July it would be indicated around 1:20 PM daylight saving time.

To read the hour and date, you have to identify the hour lines and the calendrical lines closest to the gnomon’s shadow. When the shadow does not fall exactly on a hour line, you can read the half-hours and quarters with close approximation by ideally subdividing the space between two hour lines in two or four parts. The date can also be read by referring to the Zodiac signs and the start of the months marked out along the meridian line.

© 2018 – 2022 Museo Galileo – Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza
Piazza dei Giudici 1 · 50122 Firenze · ITALIA
tel. +39 055 265 311 – P.I. 01346820481

ROTHBURY . NORTHUMBERLAND . ALL SAINTS – RARE CUBE DIAL 1714

Published on October 17, 2022October 18, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

All Saints Church . Rothbury . Northumberland – David Evans for CofE Heritage

ALL SAINTS ROTHBURY NORTHUMBERLAND

GRADE II* † On Pre-Conquest / Anglo-Saxon site. C13 / C14, rebuilding & restoration C19 (Pickering) in similar style. Located in Coquetdale with linked churches. 2 medieval scratch dials and further church details LINK. 12m SW of Alnwick, close to NT Cragside. 55.309 / -1.9106 / NU057016

CUBE SUNDIAL

The cube (‘block’) sundial is on the ground in the churchyard, S side. Originally it was on the porch roof. Parish records show that it was once whitewashed, which cost 1s 9p in 1728. I have included 2 images of each dial face, the whole face and close-up.

BSS record: Main S face has date ‘1714’ and upright Arabic numerals 6 – 6. Hour and half-hour lines. Above is a polar dial with hours 8am to 4pm and a cross for noon. The dial, a substantial chunk of masonry, was most likely taken down from its original site aloft for safety.

FRONT FACE

EAST FACE

There is an excellent article about the THE ROTHBURY SUNDIALS in the Nov 1991 Clock Magazine (Pendulum Publications). The relevant parts relating to the cube dial are as clear and concise as anything I can devise:

A cubic dial which is said to have been situated on top of the old church porch, was lost after the demolition work of 1850 but was later found among the old grave stones and is now sited near the new porch entrance. It measures 18in by 18in by 19in and has four dials carved on its surfaces, one each on the east and west faces and two on the south face. The south face has the date 1714 carved into it and some remains of old writing between the numerals and crossed line at 12 noon.
An entry in the vestry accounts for the church in 1728 states that “For white lead and Lamb black for ye Sun Dial – 0 0 9, For Whitning and new drawing the lines and figures – 0 1 0”.

3. If, as the historians tell us, the sundial was on top of the old porch the dials would have been difficult to read, especially the upper south dial sloping as it does at an angle of 45 degrees and has the remains of what was a ½ in thick cast iron gnomon. It would be essential for the lines and figures of the south main dial to be well marked in order to be able to read it.

4. The remains of an angled style (gnomon) 1/8in thick made of cast iron and held in two places by lead filling are easily observed. The east and west styles were set into recesses, scooped out of the faces, and set at 90 degrees to the faces.

WEST FACE

This dial – and its history – is a most unusual one and I am grateful, as ever, to Erika Clarkson for her dial-hunting and photography skills and the resulting coverage of the midlands and the north of England that is well beyond my own territory in the west country.

GSS Category: Cube Dial

All photos by Erika Clarkson except header image of church, David Evans / CofE Heritage Record

COMPTON . SURREY . THE WATTS GALLERY – Horizontal Dial by Mary Watts

Published on October 17, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

The WATTS GALLERY in Compton, Surrey showcases the work of artist G. F. WATTS and his wife MARY WATTS, exemplar of the Arts and Crafts Movement. The enterprise has expanded hugely since I last visited and took photos of the sundials there. The Gallery link above will give all the current information you could wish for.

You can find out about the remarkable Scaphe Dial at the gallery HERE

GSS Category: Horizontal Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

ABBOTSBURY . DORSET . ST NICHOLAS – Vertical Dial

Published on October 17, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST NICHOLAS . ABBOTSBURY . DORSET

GRADE I † C14 with older origins; gradual development, rebuilding and restorations. This church represents a far wider history of the area ecclesiastically, architecturally and socially. There are a great many good online sources of information, both general and specific, accessible with a single Gxxgle search. One of the most authoritative resources for deeper delving is British History Online BHO. 50.665 / -2.5989 / SY577852

DIAL

The vertical dial is set in the parapet of the south wall of the south aisle. It is weathered, like the stone around it. A survey some time ago found no visible markings; the high position, extent of weathering and prevailing light probably explains that. A long lens picks out more detail. It is hard to date the dial – ± 1800?

The dial is cemented onto the parapet, supported by a ledge and with 2 iron supports at above it. A frame surrounds the dial. In the upper section is a semicircular dial, with the footing of the rather hefty gnomon centred within it. 2 clear lines descend either side of the noon line / gnomon blade.

The hint of 2 converging lines above the bolts suggest they radiate down from the horizontal line of the dial. At the base of the semicircle there are traces of an outer semicircle and, significantly, of a few short lines between the two. These seem to be half hour markers. If so, there was once a more complex dial that has all but vanished.

Beneath the lower gnomon footing, the number XII is very clear. Possibly it was recut (maybe more than once) to continue to emphasise the noon marker. Apart from that, all other numbers are completely erased except for a ghost of XI.

GNOMON

Is the rather clunky gnomon original? Initially I thought not, but some features suggest it might be. The precision of the tip of the top being exactly on the edge of the frame; the extent of the staining; and the degree to which it has protected the centre line of the dial and in particular XII. Against that, the angled view of the dial makes it seem rather incongruous.

*St Nicholas . Abbotsbury . Dorset – Vertical Sundial Gallery*

St Nicholas . Abbotsbury . Dorset – Vertical Sundial / S. face with parapet dial above centre windows – stevekeirtsu cc

GSS Category: Vertical Dial; Church Sundial; Gnomon

All photos Keith Salvesen except the last, stevekeiretsu Geo cc

WOODSFORD . DORSET . ST JOHN THE BAPTIST – Scratch Dial

Published on October 15, 2022October 30, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST JOHN THE BAPTIST . WOODSFORD . DORSET

GRADE II † C13th origins of which traces survive at the W end; substantial rebuilding 1860s by Wyatt. Set in peaceful countryside close to R. Frome. An excellent folder with details about the church and contents is kept in the church. Woodsford Castle / fortified house is nearby, the largest thatched building in England. 5m E of Dorchester 50.7143 / -2.3383 / SY762905

DIAL

The single dial is just E of the entrance door, on the quoin of the S chapel. Plain and clearly cut. Now adorned with a slim metal rod bedded into blu-tack in the large gnomon hole (not quite as strange as the drill bit gnomon I found in Shropshire…).

The dial has 5 clear lines descending from the gnomon hole to the lower perimeter of the complete circle. There are large terminal pocks and several other smaller pocks round the circumference that plausibly could be part of the overall design.

A most informative diagram with commentary explains the intricacies of the medieval day and the significance of the passing hours between dawn and dusk. You can find more on this topic HERE but the material below provides a good straightforward overview.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial

All photos Keith Salvesen; Dial Diagram and Explanation courtesy of the Church

MARNHULL . DORSET . DIAL HOUSE

Published on October 12, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

Vertical Dial on Village House . Marnhull . Dorset

The dial is above the front door of a house in the village, with a stone ledge above it. It doesn’t give the impression of being old. There is little sign of weathering or erosion and the incisions are all equally clean. BSS gives it as C18?? and suggests it may be a replacement for an earlier dial. Given the design, I wonder if it is actually a modern C20 direct copy of the original?

The dial is canted to face south and provide an accurate reading. Noon is marked, as often, by a cross. The archaic use of IIII for IV might also suggest a careful copy of an old dial, as may the flourishes in the lower corners.

GSS Category: Vertical Dial; Canted Dial; Dial on house

All photos: Keith Salvesen

NETHER COMPTON . DORSET . ST NICHOLAS – 3 Scratch Dials

Published on October 9, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST NICHOLAS . NETHER COMPTON . DORSET

GRADE I † C13 nave, chancel, S porch inc outer archway. C15 alterations & additions – chapel, tower. Restored 1885. 2 Purdue bells. 4m W of Sherborne and E of Yeovil. 50.9532 / -2.5732 / ST598172

DIALS

There are 3 dials beside the porch doorway, 1 on the left side and 2 on the right. The intricacies of the dials are clearer from the BSS archive photos and diagrams compared with my photos, taken in bright sunlight and not picking up the details.

DIAL 1

South Porch L of doorway. 13 lines, with the noon line extended, and 23 pocks. The diagram suggests 1, perhaps 2, mid-morning Mass markers. GLP points out that the lines are below the horizontal whereas almost all the pocks are above it; and that the design is accurate.

DIAL 2

South porch R of doorway. Despite the extended ‘noon line’ (as it appears), the dial must in fact be upside down. If not, it can’t have had any practical use. 10 lines with very variable angles and 12 pocks. GLP describes it as crudely cut as a tide / octaval dial. The white item is a stone, which was in place when I originally saw the dial, and still 18m later. I left it in peace.

DIAL 3

A semi-circular dial with 13 lines, almost all of which end pocks. There is a complete inner circle round the gnomon hole, with semi-circle outside it. GLP found the dial to be accurately cut.

CONSECRATION CROSSES

On chancel—(a) on external S. wall, W. of S. window; on N. chapel—(b) on N. external wall, W. of N.E. window, reset; on nave—(c) on external N. wall, between N.E. window and doorway; (d) on E. splay of N. doorway; (e and f) on E. jamb of S. doorway, two crosses; (g) on E. splay of S. doorway; (h) on E. splay of S.W. window; on W. face of tower— (i) against N. buttress; all formy crosses in circles except second on jamb of S. doorway, mediæval (BLB)

*St Nicholas . Nether Compton . Dorset –* Consecration Cross

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Consecration Cross

All photos Keith Salvesen + BSS archive (also diagrams)

KIRKANDREWS-ON-ESK . LONGTOWN . CUMBRIA – St Andrew: Vertical Sundial

Published on October 5, 2022October 6, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST ANDREW . KIRKANDREWS-on-ESK . CUMBRIA

GRADE II* † Built 1776. A fine, uncomplicated Georgian building externally; restored and much remodelled internally 1890s by Temple Moore. ‘Urbane and assured‘ PEV. Original clock on the bell tower replaced by a memorial sundial dated 19†18. Selected for the cover image for Cumbria in Pevsner’s Buildings of England series. 8m N of Longtown. 55.0386 / -2.9543 / NY391719

Kirkandrews . Cumbria . Walter Baxter Geo

DIAL

This handsome church has a moving story to tell. The tower originally had a clock. In 1918, this was replaced by a commemorative sundial to honour the two sons of the Graham family from nearby Netherby, after their safe return home from WW1.

The dial has an inscription around the circumference that reads in two parts, and a Motto

FOR OUR TWO DEAR SONS FFG & RPG WHO LIVED TO COME HOME FROM THE GREAT WAR THANKS BE TO GOD ALONE

LUX POST UMBRAM

The motto and its sentiments are self-explanatory. The same – or very similar – formula has been noted in northern Italy MG; and (I notice) for abstract art works that contain both light and shadow…

DIAL

The dial has an attractive design marking hours and 1/2 hours from 6 round 5. It appears to be hand-painted rather than machine made. The robust gnomon casts a clear shadow that also benefits sheep, cows, and salmon-fishermen in season.

GSS Category: Vertical Dial; Sundial Motto; Memorial Mottos

Credits: Keith Salvesen; Walter Baxter dial close-up Geo ; Alun Bull English Heritage PEV; Yale University Press (cover image)

ROTHBURY . NORTHUMBERLAND . ALL SAINTS – 2 Scratch Dials

Published on October 3, 2022October 4, 2022 by Rolling Harbour2 Comments

ALL SAINTS . ROTHBURY . NORTHUMBERLAND

GRADE II* † On Pre-Conquest / Anglo-Saxon site. C13 / C14, rebuilding & restoration C19 in similar style. Located in Coquetdale with linked churches. 12m SW of Alnwick, close to NT Cragside. 55.309 / -1.9106 / NU057016

DIALS

There are 2 dissimilar scratch dials on the church, and an intriguing cube dial (shown below and will feature as a separate post in the Cube Dial section) on the ground in the Churchyard.

DIAL 1

Located on the E-most buttress of the S wall of the chancel. Quite a large dial centred in its stone, with a blocked gnomon hole. There are 16 lines, encircled and fairly evenly spaced. This makes the dial out of kilter with the normal time interludes. BSS notes that instead of the 15º angles usual for this type of dial with 24 lines, they are more like 22º here.

DIAL 2

Between the 2 E-most buttresses of the S wall of the chancel. Only 3 lines radiate from the filled gnomon hole (incomplete quadrant markings): the horizontals (6-to-6) and a shorter noon line. BSS notes that in 1903 a vertical line above the hole was recorded, and so the design once had 4 quarters / sectors. The dial is contained within a double circle.

REFERENCES

The Parish of Upper Coquetdale has an interesting page about All Saints, its history, and its various features HERE

Pendulum Publications has an excellent and detailed article about the Rothbury Dials – including the C18 cube – HERE Highly recommended if you want to investigate this church and its dials further, and medieval ‘clocks’ generally. It was originally published in Clocks Magazine of November 1991.

All Saints . Rothbury . Northumberland – Keith Bates / Clocks Magazine 1991; Pendulum Publications

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; link to Cube Dial

Image Credits: Erika Clarkson for the photos from her visit; others as captioned