GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN

BROAD HINTON . WILTS . ST PETER AD VINCULA – Scratch Dial & Porch Sundial

Published on March 18, 2022March 19, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

St Peter ad Vincula . Broad Hinton . Wilts

ST PETER AD VINCULA . BROAD HINTON . WILTS

GRADE 1 † C13 origins (possibly back to Saxon); developed C15, C17; late Victorian restoration. Use of local sarsen stone. Hammerbeam roof. Merits a long entry in PEV, especially for the monuments. 5m N of Avebury, 7m NW of Marlborough 51.4858 / -1.8497 / SU105763

DIALS

St Peter has 2 dials in very different styles, and a couple of ‘not-a-dial’s. There is also a modern-ish sundial on the porch, probably from the late C19 restoration, with a rather gloomy motto that fits in with Victorian mores.

DIAL 1

Dial 1 is a fairly large and pleasingly simple dial on L side of a window jamb. 4 lines drop down from the style hole into the lower L quadrant, bounded by a sector of a circle. It looks rather uncomfortable. The puzzle is whether this was the original location (in which case it seems too large for the available space); or whether it is a relocation.

DIAL 2

Dial 2 is an encircled dial, the lower half eroded. There is a shallow style hole and various pocks, not all necessarily relevant to dial functions. The significant ones are on the L side, with 3 pocks in a row between the style hole and the perimeter. Below them are less organised pocks. The dial would make more sense if rotated 90º, with the horizontal line becoming the noon line and the less defined line perhaps marking a Mass time (None?). This suggests that the stone was relocated, and certainly the size and colour of the stones around it vary significantly (image 1 below).

Promising but on closer inspection unlikely dials

OUR DAYS ON THE EARTH ARE AS A SHADOW

The C17 porch was restored C19 and then (or later?) this dial was added over the door, with its discouraging message (no hint of the ‘sunny hours’ etc found elsewhere). The dial is slightly angled to face due S for greater accuracy.

*St Peter ad Vincula . Broad Hinton . Wilts – angled sundial above S porch*

NOTES: Various types of external graffiti – scratchings, initials, Marian marks etc; on the WILTSHIRE HISTORIC CHURCHES TRAIL

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; New Dial; Medieval Graffiti; Marian marks

All photos: Keith Salvesen

LONGDON . STAFFS . ST JAMES THE GREAT – Scratch Dials

Published on March 11, 2022January 2, 2025 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST JAMES THE GREAT . LONGDON . STAFFS

GRADE II* † C13 with C12 origins – Norman S doorway; early C16 tower & chapel; C19 additions, restoration. 5m NE of Litchfield. 52.7251 / -1.8798 / SK082141

Addition material Jan 2025 – photos by Erika Clarkson

DIALS

St James has 4 dials, one of which is previously unrecorded. 2 are marked with roman numerals – perhaps unusually for a single church – and 1 dial has an interesting concentric circle design, possibly unique.

DIAL 1

Dial 1 is located on the buttress at the E end of the chapel. There is only 1 line – the noon line – which terminates with a pock. There are 8 other pocks around the dial, and the numerals are unconnected to the style hole. These are attractively and crudely cut, as if by someone in a hurry, and are more or less accurately placed.

DIAL 2

Dial 2 is high up on a S side parapet stone. It has roman numerals within a faint eroded semicircle at the end of 9 lines radiating from a filled style hole in the mortar line. IIII stands for IV. Unusually, the midday XII / the end of the noon line has been emphasised by dropping the numeral XII below the semicircle.

DIAL 3

Dial 3 is on the central buttress of the S chapel, with the hours marked within a double circle (the top half very eroded). BSS suggests that this design may be unique. In addition to the hour marks, there are 4 clear radials: the horizontals, and 2 lines that correspond with Sext and Nones. The original style hole is in the centre of the circle, but the larger circle above it – joined by the filler – may have been a second one for reasons unguessable. BSS notes that nearby KINGS BROMLEY is similar.

St James the Great . Longdon . Staffs – Scratch Dial 3 BSS

DIAL 4

Dial 4 is on the S wall. This is a recent find by Erika Clarkson, who lives in the area (see ALREWAS). She saw through the moss and lichen. A simple dial with ± 6 lines and an interestingly downward angled style hole. Note the radials in the R quadrant with a distinct curve. I can’t find a reference to this dial anywhere, so this one can be added to the record for the church.

DIAL 3

GSS Category: Scratch Dial

Photos: Erika Clarkson (dials 1, 3 & 4); BSS (dials 2 & 3); Neil Brittain / BLP (header image)

HAZELBURY BRYAN . DORSET . ST MARY & ST JAMES – Scratch Dial, Marian Marks

Published on March 10, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

St Mary & St James . Hazelbury Bryan . Dorset

ST MARY & ST JAMES . HAZEBURY BRYAN . DORSET

GRADE I † Mainly C15, chancel rebuilt 1827, general restoration 1895 and early C20. A fine Church some way out of the centre of the village (as with several other churches in the area, eg Pulham, Lydlinch). Nave and N aisle have C15 wagon roofs. Graffiti & witch marks in the porch. SW of Sturminster Newton. 50.8736 / -2.352 / ST753082

DIAL

A small simple dial within a complete circle on the face of the SW buttress of the tower. There are 4 lines that extend slightly beyond the circumference and one quite large pock in lower R quadrant. GLP notes that the lines, with the pock, divide the day into quarters marking the canonical hours of tierce, sext & none.

St Mary & St James . Hazelbury Bryan . Dorset – Scratch Dial

GLP also noted a ‘doubtful dial’ on the NW face of the buttress: an eroded circle with a shallow central hole. This is nearest candidate I could find in that location, one I would never have noticed without a prompt. I share the doubt despite my usual optimistic amateur instincts.

St Mary & St James . Hazelbury Bryan . Dorset – doubtful dial?

MARIAN MARK IN THE PORCH

The porch is worth checking for graffiti and other church marks like the emphatic Marian mark below boldly repelling evil.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

CHIDEOCK . DORSET . ST GILES – Scratch Dial

Published on March 8, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST GILES . CHIDEOCK . DORSET

GRADE 1 † C14, C15, with earlier references (1240). 1880 restoration by Crickmay, described variously as ‘major’ and less politely, ‘drastic’. 3m W of Bridport. Best visited outside the summer holiday season… 50.7325 / -2.8211 / SY421928

DIAL

The dial is on W side of S porch, and rather intriguing. GLP dates it to C15. A large dial spread across most of a quoin stone, with an anachronistic addition. BSS: this may possibly be a scratch dial which has been ‘converted’ by the addition of an ornate but modern shelf bracket which effectively adds a horizontal gnomon.

The dial itself has [had] its gnomon in the mortar line, which also acts as the horizontal. There are 22 lines of varying sizes of length, width and depth (a jumble BSS). The early morning Mass must have been the most significant, to judge from the heavily emphasised radial. GLP suggests that some of the many lines may show corrections / adjustments over the years.

Presumably there was originally a straightforward rod gnomon. Maybe it became detached and was replaced by this different design that involved mooring the lower end of the bracket in the noon line. GLP dates the bracket as C18.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen except header image, ‘Dorset Churches’

LYDLINCH . DORSET – ST THOMAS À BECKET: Sundials, Medieval Graffiti, Witch Marks, Hexfoil

Published on March 7, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

LYDLINCH . DORSET . ST THOMAS À BECKET

GRADE II* † Mainly C15 / C16, much reworking and restoration. Located down a longish lane S of the village. 10 miles E of Sherborne. BLB record HERE. Featured: the 3 sundials; church marks; the 3 seats inside the porch. 50.9192 / -2.3678 / ST742133

SUNDIALS

DIAL 1

The most obvious sundial is at the apex of the porch gable, a simple square stone containing a square dial with a narrow 3/4 frame, and an iron gnomon. Above it some form of stone finial, much eroded, a cross? The dial has graduated hour radials, with shorter lines for half-hours, and the quarter hours marked within the frame. Quite sophisticated, some damage upper R. BHO dates it C18.

Below this dial is an inscribed C18 plaque dedicated, it seems, to two [C]hurch [W]ardens 1753. It is interesting to compare the erosion of this soft stone with the dial stone.

Lydlinch . Dorset . St Thomas à Becket – Vertical sundial over the porch

Lydlinch . Dorset . St Thomas à Becket – plaque dated 17[5]3

DIALS 2 & 3

These dials are a near-matched pair on the C15 tower. Both are high up on the second stage, one on the SW buttress, the other on the SE buttress. BHO describes the former as a stone plate with Roman numerals, much worn; and the latter as traces of similar sundial. I think both dials must have had considerable attention since those words were written.

DIAL 2

This dial looks like a comparatively new replacement; BSS suggests C20. The modern design replicates Dial 3 mutatis mutandis. The radials are carefully graduated for its SW facing angle; very little of the afternoon can be indicated.

Lydlinch . Dorset . St Thomas à Becket – replaced vertical sundial on SW buttress of tower

DIAL 3

This dial is almost an exact converse of its pair, the radials being graduated in the opposite direction. C18. Note that the gnomons of both dials are the same design, copper I think, and presumably installed at the same time.

Lydlinch . Dorset . St Thomas à Becket – vertical sundial on SE buttress of tower

APOTROPAIC (WITCH) MARKS, MARIAN MARKS, HEXFOIL & GRAFFITI

APOTROPAIC (WITCH) MARKS, MARIAN MARKS & GRAFFITI ON PORCH SEATS

Lydlinch . Dorset . St Thomas à Becket – Apotropaic (Witch) marks, Marian marks, Graffiti on seats

GSS Categories: Sundials, Vertical Dials, Old Dials, Witch Marks, Apotropaic Symbols, Church Graffiti

All photos: Keith Salvesen

WOOTTON RIVERS . WILTS . ST ANDREW – Five Scratch Dials

Published on February 28, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST ANDREW. WOTTON RIVERS . WILTS

GRADE II* † C14 with major C19 restoration by G E Street. Attractive village church with a shingled spire (slightly aslant). Situated by the Kennet and Avon canal. Home to the amazing JACK SPRATT’S CLOCK 51.3653 / -1.7187 / SU196629

DIALS

St Andrew has 5 dials (BSS records 2; HE 1) and a couple of doubtfuls. All are on the S side. The porch has graffiti – initials, dates etc – and apotropaic symbols / ritual protection marks.

DIAL 1

Dial 1 is on a quoin stone at the E end of S side. A small but easily visible dial with a large style hole for its size (doubtless enlarged at some time). The noon line is strongest cut, with 3, possibly 4, other lines. The None (9th hour) line is longest, possibly to indicate the most important Mass time of the day. A simple dial with a simple purpose. The 2 ‘tadpole’ marks bottom left could be witch marks to protect the church. There are others in the porch area.

DIAL 2

Dial 2 is relatively complex and later than dial 1. A semicircle design with the lines mostly positively cut evenly at 15º angles, though there is erosion in the lower R quadrant. There are also quite large pocks, mostly between the ends of 2 lines which is, I think, unusual. The style hole, as with Dial 1, is large.

DIAL 3

Dial 3 is a simple little dial consisting of three significant lines terminating in pocks, and an ‘afternoon’ pock. The sketchy marks above this suggest an extended line ending in a pock and, as with Dial 1, roughly corresponding to None, perhaps confirming the most significant service time for the church, ie early evening Mass.

DIAL 4

Dial 4 is on the E side of the porch. Very eroded, with the style hole drawing attention to a small encircled dial with 3 clearish lines – horizontal and 2 curving below it. Indistinct traces of a couple of other lines.

DIAL 5

Dial 5 is on the W side of the porch. Larger than dial 4 and also considerably eroded. 10 lines or so, and a confusion of pocks, especially around the (presumed) shallow style hole. There are hints of at least a semicircle in the lower half and the trace (illusion?) of a complete circle or even a double one.

GRAFFITI and APOTROPAIC (WITCH) MARKS

*St Andrew . Wootton Rivers . Wilts* *– Graffiti and Witch Marks*

GSS Category: Scratch Dials

All photos: Keith Salvesen; Jack Spratt’s Clock link – VisitPewseyVale

ALTON PRIORS . WILTS . ALL SAINTS – VAST SCRATCH DIAL (?)

Published on February 25, 2022February 28, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ALL SAINTS . ALTON PRIORS

GRADE II* † C12 origins, alterations and development C14 / C15; rebuilding C18. Little remains of the Norman building. Yew tree in churchyard reputedly 1700 years old. Sarsen stone(s) beneath the church accessed by trapdoor.

All Saints Church, surrounded by fields below the southern escarpment of the Marlborough Downs, is in the care of the CHURCHES CONSERVATION TRUST It is of particular interest for examining the slow transition of medieval scratch dials from rustic to cultivated. This article primarily features the massive sundial on the south face of the tower, but there’s much that could be written about the wonderful graffiti adorning the external walls – witch marks, dates, initials and so on. The wear and tear of history includes holes in the lower part of the tower wall from musket shots. There’s a great deal to explore and admire both outside and inside this most rewarding building. Then walk the paved priest’s path across the fields to the Saxon church of St Mary a few hundred yards away (there are 2 dials to look for). 51.358 / -1.8446 / SU10962

DIAL

The dial that dominates the upper stage of the tower is almost invariably described as a scratch dial. However, it is difficult to categorise it thus when the scale of it is so colossal by comparison to the small dials cut on porches, buttresses etc, and only rarely above head height . All the traditional scratch dials of Wiltshire could very likely be contained within the semicircle that nearly spans the width of the tower.

However one chooses to describe the dial, it is clearly a sophisticated and ambitious design. Early scratch dials do not have numerals, generally just a style hole with lines, pocks or both, and often crude and rather random. Gradually they became more complex and cut more accurately, in a few later examples with the addition of Roman numerals. Very few scratch dials have Arabic numerals. There’s a most intriguing one at MONTACUTE Somerset, where the dial has a mix of Roman and Arabic numerals. One could argue a true scratch dial had a single rod in a hole to cast the shadow, and that a dial requiring a more elaborate iron gnomon attached to the face takes it out of the category of scratch dial. This dial was clearly designed for such an arrangement. In that way it differs from eg Litlington and ALFRISTON (E Sussex) where iron gnomons were added onto the face of an existing scratch dial.

St Catherine . Montacute – Scratch Dial / Sundial

The All Saints dial is advanced in a number of ways. The size itself and its height must have required considerable skills and inventiveness to reach, measure, design and execute. The radials are very carefully graduated down to and up from the noon line. The cutting of the dial is remarkably precise. The inclusion of half-hour markers and in particular the use of Arabic numerals add a further dimension. This combination of factors suggests a dial that is later than the generally agreed end of the true scratch dial era, around 1600. The date of the tower is described in the CCT material as fifteenth century*, and a Triennial Inspection Report (2004) notes that the inscribed sundial is still legible. I have not found any early reference to this dial. So overall I will go with the description sundial rather than scratch dial.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Old Dial; Unclassified

All Photos: Keith Salvesen; *thanks to CCT for information about the church

Damage from Musket Shot, All Saints Alton Pancras

WEST CAMEL . SOM . ALL SAINTS – Scratch Dials

Published on February 20, 2022February 21, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

DEDICATION † ALL SAINTS. Late C14 with much earlier Saxon fragments; C15 features and alterations; C19 restoration; recent internal renovation. A pretty country church and path approach. Battlement and stubby spire on the tower.

LISTING † Grade 1

LOCATION † Just W of RNAS Yeovilton and S of the A303. 51.0195 / -2.5998 / ST580246

DIALS † DEH visited All Saints in May 1915, and recorded 2 dials, one which he found inside the porch. An uncommon find, and shared with other churches in the area. There are 5 dials in all.

DIALS 1 – 3

Dials 1 – 3 are on separate quoin stones of the tower E of the S porch. The eye-catcher is unmissable at the top, with a large style hole that has been considerably enlarged over the centuries. On the stones below are 2 more rustic dials that a very similar.

All Saints. West Camel . Som – scratch dial 1

All Saints. West Camel . Som – scratch dial 1 (π Erika Clarkson)

Dial 1 is a good example of a small line and pock dial. There are 13 lines with pocks (2 are eroded) and there is a double pock in the upper R quadrant on the bottom edge with (possibly) the stub of a line. There are hints of other lines and just possibly a faint shadow of near-erased circle. The deeper cut lines and pocks may indicate the most significant time of day for Mass, in this case between 9 (Terce) and noon (Sext). DEH describes it as a compact and rather curious little dial.

DEH 191. (2) This dial is on the s.w. corner of the tower. It is 5 feet 7 inches above the ground, the noonline is 2 1/2 inches in length, the stylehole is 1 1/4 inches deep, and the aspect is due s. Type 11, combining 3.

All Saints. West Camel . Som – scratch dial 2

Dial 2 is on the stone below. The style was presumably in the mortar line. There are 4 lines (Terce to Sext) ending in pocks. There are further pocks in the lower L quadrant, the top one corresponding with None. A true – if sketchy – Mass dial. The large hole beneath does not seem dial-related.

All Saints. West Camel . Som – scratch dial 3

Dial 3 has a very similar form, with 5 lines (2 very faint) emerging from the mortar line. It seems strange to have 2 dials so alike and so close. From the look of them, the upper dial would have been an improvements on the lower one.

It is hard to know what to make of the 4 pocks in a neat row on the R side. Possibly they belong with the hole above them. Conceivably the configuration could have worked as a crude or experimental dial but it can’t be rated higher than ‘doubtful’.

DIALS 4 & 5

Both dials are inside the porch on L side the original doorway. The present porch was added in 1866, replacing an earlier porch of unknown date. Such ‘inside’ dials are not unusual, but this particular area has several quite close together, eg BLACKFORD, LIMINGTON, WESTON BAMPFYLDE Note the traces of whitewash on and around both dials.

All Saints. West Camel . Som – scratch dial 4

Dial 4 has 4 distinct lines and traces in lower R quadrant. 3 of the clear radials extend to the mortar line below. It looks as though all the lines were originally roughly the same length, with 3 later crudely elongated (2 have bends).

DEH: 190. (1) This dial is on the w. side of the inner door of the s. porch. It is 4 feet 10 inches above the floor, the noonline is 4 inches in length, the stylehole is 1 1/2 inches deep by 3/4 of an inch in diameter, and the aspect is s. by 10° e. Type 3.

All Saints. West Camel . Som – scratch dial 5

Dial 5 is above Dial 4, and much simpler. 4 lines descend from the mortar line, one extended. The upper R one ends in a pock. The 2 pocks on the bottom edge probably emphasise noon. The large hole doesn’t seem to be part of the design.

Dials 4 & 5 close-up

*All Saints. West Camel . Som – scratch dials 4 & 5*

NOTE: fragment of a C9 Saxon cross-shaft with cable-roll interlaced decoration on 2 faces, discovered above nave East wall foundations in 1866.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial, Mass Dial

CREDITS: many thanks to Erika Clarkson who sent me the excellent close-up photo of Dial 1 and prompted my visit to All Saints and several other churches churches in the neighbourhood; All other photos Keith Salvesen

ALFRISTON . E SUSSEX . ST ANDREW – Scratch Dials

Published on February 15, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

GRADE 1 † C14 flint-faced cruciform church of considerable interest, in an attractive setting between Lewes and Polegate. Oddly, the usual reliable research resources (BLB, BHO, HE) have minimal or no entry for St Andrew. Luckily the CUCKMERE CHURCHES website gives helpful details. 50.8066 / 0.1581 / TQ521030

DIAL

The neat compact dial is located on the S porch, on a W side quoin stone. It is encircled, with 12 radials of which the noon line – though the faintest – extends some way beyond the circumference. The style used in the original style hole, now blocked, was evidently superseded by an iron gnomon set in the oblong hole above the cement; probably not earlier than C17. This adaptation is also found at St Michael Litlington, situated opposite Alfriston on the E side of the Cuckmere valley. The dials there are famous and I will post about them separately.

The radials are contained within the lower half of the dial (below the 6 – 6 horizontal) and are rather randomly spaced at (roughly) the 15º intervals usual in this design. In a later dial, the lines would be graduated. This form is a Canonical dial designed to mark the times of Mass. The significant lines were Terce, Sext and None – the 3rd, 6th (noon) and 9th hours. These are not emphasised here (eg by being cut wider, deeper or longer) although on many dials they are . There is a suggestion (BSS) that at some time the dial was recut / rescratched.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial

Photos: John Renner (dial); Camilla Pennant (church view across the village green known as the Tye)

BRYMPTON . SOM . ST ANDREW – Scratch Dials, Medieval Graffiti

Published on February 14, 2022February 14, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST ANDREW . BRYMPTON . SOM

GRADE I † C13 origins, mainly C14 / C15; C19 restoration. Set in the grounds of an historic house Brympton D’Evercy and adorned by an unusual (striking?) bell turret. The remnants of a lost medieval village. A mere 2m W of Yeovil yet hidden away in its own parkland, and best reached by map reading, satnav or luck. 50.9359 / -2.6856 / ST519153

DIALS

St Andrew has 2 dials, one on each of the paired corner buttresses of the S transept (HE notes only one). There is a plausible dial fragment on the buttress on the W end of the nave.

DIAL 1

DEH visited St Andrew in July 1915 and recorded: 189. (2) This dial is on a buttress at the s.e. corner of the s. transept, at a height of 4 feet 1 inch above the ground. The noonline is 5 inches in length, the stylehole is 1 1/4 inches deep by 3/8 of an inch in diameter, and the aspect is s. by 15° e. Type 3.

There are 4 clear lines and one less so. As judged from the noon line, the dial is slightly offset. There is a faintest hint of a line to the right of the noon line, which would make design sense; or perhaps for some reason that area remained blank (and see Dial 2). The strong line mid-afternoon may indicate that the important Mass at St Andrew was none.

DIAL 2

DEH: 188. (1) This dial is on a buttress at the s.w. corner of the s. transept, at a height of 4 feet 11 inches above the ground. The noonline is 3 inches in length, the stylehole is 2 1/4 inches deep by 3/4 of an inch in diameter, and the aspect is s. by 10° e. Type 5c.

The dense covering of lichen makes it hard to give an accurate description of this dial. It looks like a conventional semi-circular fan dial with an emphasised horizontal (6-to-6). There are 7 lines for certain; as with Dial 1, the lower R quadrant is less well defined – perhaps less deeply incised and gradually eroded, or because locally the afternoon was not significant for services and could be ignored.

DIAL FRAGMENT?

The markings on the SW face of this buttress are strange. Are these eye-catching striations related to marking the time of day? It seems most unlikely. However, it’s worth zeroing in on the 4 short lines on the stone below. A case could be made that this is a dial fragment on a stone that was at some time relocated there. Alternatively, this is the lower section of a dial in its original position, with the stones now above it displacing the rest of the dial with its style hole.