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
St Andrew . Alfriston . Sussex – Scratch Dial
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 The style used in the original style hole, now blocked, was evidently superseded by an iron gnomon set in the oblong hole above the cement; probably not earlier than C17.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.
St Andrew . Alfriston . Sussex – Scratch Dial
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.
St Andrew . Alfriston . Sussex – Scratch Dial
GSS Category: Scratch Dial
Photos: John Renner (dial); Camilla Pennant (church view across the village green known as the Tye)
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.
St Andrew . Brympton . Som – Scratch Dial 1
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.
St Andrew . Brympton . Som – Scratch Dial 1
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.
St Andrew . Brympton . Som – Scratch Dial 2
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.
St Andrew . Brympton . Som – Scratch Dial 2
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.
GRADE l † C12 origins, from C13 gradually expanded, reworked, and restored. Recent additional work. Large coursed and squared sandstone blocksBLB. OE Alorwæsse. Situated by R Trent, between Lichfield (NE) and Burton-on-Trent (SW). 2°44’05.3″N / 1°45’11.1″W / SK 16769 15267
ADDENDUM Feb 24: new images of Dial 3
DIALS
DIAL 1
All Saints . Alrewas . Staffs – Mass dial 1
Located on E side of S porch. A conspicuous dial with a large blocked style hole, eroded and damaged through the ages. Some general local repair. The porch was rebuilt in 1866 and the dial was evidently considered worth preserving as a feature. The B&W archive photo below shows the dial’s state in 1991. The deterioration since then is significant, with the fan of clear lines reduced to vestiges.
BSS dates the dial to C14 and notes Eroded, damaged. Important, possibly unique
Alrewas All Saints – Scratch dial 1991, B&W archive photo ‘Staffordshire Past Track’
All Saints . Alrewas . Staffs – Mass dial 1
DIAL 2
Located on S wall of the nave, R of 2nd Buttress E of door. This dial is also dated by BSS to C14. A simple early dial with lines marking the midday period, roughly 11 – 2 in clock terms. 4 clear lines and 3 very faint, with the noon line slightly longer. The slant-wise photo (as often) reveals more useful detail. I think the pocks are not related to the dial, but are the result of pitting of the sandstone over the centuries. BSS notes Various pocks, but scattered
All Saints . Alrewas . Staffs – scratch dial 2
Traces of a plausibly original medieval gnomon are extremely rare, but original style holes have sometimes been reused / enlarged / adapted for a contemporary gnomon during the life of a church. These were often metal rods. This dial must at some stage have had one and – to judge from the coloured residue – until relatively modern times.
All Saints . Alrewas . Staffs – scratch dial 2
DIAL 3
There is a 3rd and significant dial on the BSS Register for All Saints, also on S wall of the nave and W of easternmost buttress. This strange little dial is described as Unique: multiple pocks covering sector 135°-180°.
All Saints . Alrewas . Staffs – scratch dial 3
At some time the stone must have been rotated 90º, otherwise it makes little sense as a marker for the time of day. Corrected, it covers the period of roughly Terce to Sext in Mass terms. A morning dial.
Erika Clarkson collected dials 1 an 2 and took very good photos (dial 3 is from the BSS record). She also photographed the dial at neighbouring WYCHNOR and you may like to use the link to see them and compare. The dial there, on different stone, is similar to dial 2 above in design.
ADDENDUM Feb 24: new images of Dial 3
Erika recently returned to All Saints and took a photograph of the whole dial stone:
GSS Category: Scratch Dials
All photos: Erika Clarkson, except header image – Peter Ralley; B&W image ‘Staffordshire Past Track’; Dial 3 BSS
GRADE II* † C14 onwards. A small and pretty village W. of Wincanton on a hillside, and a church with a view. Seemingly off the beaten track approached from S / E but in fact rather close to the dread A303 to N. 51.0401 / -2.4503 / ST685268
DIALS
An outstandingly rewarding Priest’s door. Both sides of the doorway have dials, part dials, traces of dials, together with a variety of graffiti and other church marks. DEH visited St Nicholas in April 2014, for some reason recording only 2 dials, one each side of the doorway. There are certainly 5, with a plausible 6th.
St Nicholas . Holton . Som – Priest’s Door
DIALS: EAST SIDE
St Nicholas . Holton . Som – Scratch Dial 1 (E side)
Dial 1 RHSThe main dial of 2 is quite roughly incised. A full circle (though not circular); 12 (or so) lines of varying lengths, widths, depths and graduation; all enclosed (at the time or later?) in an approximate rectangle. The lowest 4 lines, with large terminal pocks, are deeply cut. There is an extended part-eroded noon line. The style hole is surprisingly large: with an emerging peg or rod that size, a passer-by would have been able to check the time of day / of Mass from some distance away.
St Nicholas . Holton . Som – Scratch Dial 2 (E side)
Dial 2 RHS In the context of this multi-dial doorway, this is very simple. It is almost level with another minimalist dial on the W. side. Below the small style hole are double noon lines; or perhaps 2 lines bordering a ‘midday space’ between them. They seem intentionally incised below uncut stone directly under the hole. There are pocks in the area but my feeling is that they relate to Dial 3 (with one debatably either).
St Nicholas . Holton . Som – Scratch Dial 3 (E side)
Dial 3 RHS is above and to the L side of dial 2, by the door surround. There is a small shallow hole with a crescent of 5 or 6 pocks in the lower L quadrant of its (imaginary) circumference. Possibly the lowest pock, distanced from the rest, is a Mass mark (Terce?) for dial 2. A faint line can be seen directly pointing at the top pock. Others, if any, are completely eroded. I might describe this dial as merely ‘debatable’ or ‘plausible’, were it not for the neat and apparently intentional configuration.
St Nicholas . Holton . Som – Scratch Dial 3 (E side)
St Nicholas . Holton . Som – Scratch Dial 1 – 3 (E side)
DIALS: WEST SIDE
St Nicholas . Holton . Som – Scratch Dial 4 & 5 (W side)
One of the most interesting sides of any Priest’s Door I have come across. There are 3 dials in all, from remarkably exuberant to extreme simplicity. Additionally there are barely visible traces of part circles and lines that, in medieval times, might have been part of the scheme.
St Nicholas . Holton . Som – Scratch Dial 4 (W side)
Dial 4 LHS The upper of 2 main dials. Encircled, with a blocked style hole, 8 clear lines more of less in the lower quadrants. One deeper incised, probably emphasising a local time for Mass. 3 fainter / more eroded lines above the horizontal (including a ‘midnight line’), of decorative use only.
St Nicholas . Holton . Som – Scratch Dial 5 (W side)
Dial 5 LHS Immediately below and touching Dial 1. Unusually adventurous. A large blocked gnomon hole, encircled, and roughly centred within a crudely cut square frame. There are 10 (11?) lines, all except one being in the lower half. The lower R quadrant is significantly eroded with just the faintest hint of ‘missing’ lines. The few pocks seem to be part of the overall design. Most remarkable are the extended lines. The prominent noon line and the faint flanking lines dive confidently downwards.
St Nicholas . Holton . Som – Scratch Dial 5 (W side)
I imagine the noon line – some 4 times longer below the incised frame than between the frame edge and style hole – is close to a record. It effortlessly passes through the crumbled mortar joint onto the stone below.
St Nicholas . Holton . Som – Scratch Dial 6 (W side)
Dial 6 LHS is, like its low-level counterpart RHS, extremely simple – a small style hole with just a cross below it marking the noon line. There is a trace of a line at 5 that may be part of it but I’d prefer to think of this dial as simply a hole and a cross.
St Nicholas . Holton . Som – Scratch Dials 4 – 6 (W side); dial locations
GRADE II* † C12 origins, mainly C14, C17 work / expansion. A hamlet with a fine red sandstone church. Hwiccenofre in Saxon times, Wicenore in DB. Church details BLB. NE of Lichfield near Alrewas, close to R Trent. 52.742 / -1.7394 / SK176160
DIALS
St Leonard has 3 recorded scratch dials, one of which features here along with an arguable but doubtful dial. The other 2 official dials will be covered in a separate post. The neighbouring village, Alrewas, has a church (All Saints) also with 3 recorded dials. Two are featured HERE. The third will be featured in due course.
St Leonard . Wychnor . Staffs – Scratch Dial
Prominent on the easternmost buttress of the aisle with a sizeable style hole (a later enlargement of the original?). Cut on black stone and eroded. 4 (5?) broad lines cut in lower R quadrant; other possible traces. An afternoon dial – perhaps locally the most significant part of the canonical day, marking the Masses sext and none: the 6th (noon) and 9th hours.
St Leonard . Wychnor . Staffs – Scratch Dial
BSS additionally notes: 2 pocks in lower R quadrant, & 2 in upper R quadrant at much larger radius. The archive image below shows (lower R quadrant) a terminal pock under the noon line (not uncommon) and another next to it (unusual?). 2 pocks are visible upper R, but whether related to the dial is uncertain.
St Leonard . Wychnor . Staffs – Scratch Dial (BSS archive)
PLAUSIBLE, DOUBTFUL, OR NOT A DIAL?
St Leonard . Wychnor . Staffs – doubtful scratch dial
Image 1 – the original – displays marks that resemble a relocated and inverted dial. Images 2 & 3 show a 180º rotation and close-up. It looks quite plausible, with apparent dial features including extended noon line, a feasible style hole, some pocks that may be part of the design. Also, the focus is on the lower R quadrant, perhaps reinforcing the ‘afternoon Mass’ suggestion above. But overall not quite right, and doubtful at best.
NOTE The Pilgrim Way Church Trail, 14 miles long, links six churches dated from Saxon to Victorian leading to Lichfield Cathedral following an an ancient path. As the excellentPWCT site explains: you can walk, cycle or drive the trail and the three booklets give clear instructions and helpful photographs
GSS Category: Scratch Dial
Photo credits: Erika Clarkson – dial images; Peter Ralley – header image of St Leonard’s; BSS archive
GRADE II † C15 origins, substantially rebuilt 1879. Surprisingly for a church in a village recorded in DB (Todeberie) 1086, no Dedication. Midway between Shaftsbury & Sturminster Newton. 50.9795 / -2.2865 / ST799200
DIAL
Todber Church – Scratch Dial
The dial of this unusual-looking small church is on the S wall of the chancel, R of the window. The dial is very eroded. There are 6 visible / detectable lines, the noon line longer than the rest. The gnomon hole is filled, and there is a patch of cement on the noon line that BSS / GLP suggest may be a filled pock.
Todber Church – Scratch Dial
The large block of stone was obviously relocated to the side of the window during (or before?) C19 rebuilding: it stands out from the smaller brick-like stones that form the wall. GLP comments it looks as if the dial was recognised as something interesting, and preserved accordingly.
St Andrew . Melcombe Horsey . Dorset – north aspect
MELCOMBE HORSEY . DORSET . ST ANDREW
GRADE 1 † C14 origins, additional work C15, Chapels C16, partial C19 restoration. Adjacent to a fine manor house. The Parish confusingly includes Melcombe Bingham, Bingham’s Melcombe and Higher Melcombe, all in a secluded area steeped in medieval history. To explore further, BHO. 50.8178 / -2.324 / ST772020
DIAL
The church stands in the parkland of Bingham’s Melcombe House, a pleasant walk down a long drive. A single dial is recorded, located on a quoin stone of S.E. buttress of C16 Horsey Chapel. There are other church marks of interest (see below).
St Andrew . Melcombe Horsey . Dorset – scratch dial
The dial is inverted, with 5 radials pointing upwards from a large cement-filled style hole. There are good reasons to suppose the dial was repositioned: it predates the building of the chapel, and so is cut on a reused stone; it is inverted (as often the case with relocated dials); and GLP points out that its angle would receive sunlight for half the day at most.
St Andrew . Melcombe Horsey . Dorset
St Andrew . Melcombe Horsey . Dorset – Scratch dial diagrams (BSS)
St Andrew . Melcombe Horsey . Dorset – south aspect
UNRECORDED DIALS?
There are 2 other configurations on earlier parts on S side of the church that give pause for thought. Both images below show patterns that are distinctly dial-ish.
The first is plausible in several respects: style hole just below the mortar line; 2 large pocks in the mortar line (the RHS one beyond the edge of an apparent circumference); the hint of a part-circle above the horizontal; a distinct curve of pocks in lower L quadrant; eroded and less organised pocks lower R.
Note: looking at this configuration some time later and having seen a great many more dials in the interim, I’d say this is definitely a dial; and the other is a ‘not-a-dial’
St Andrew . Melcombe Horsey . Dorset
The second candidate is less clear. It is at an angle L of the S doorway – a conventional place for a dial. The case for it is weaker and unfortunately it looks less dial-like in the photograph than at the time. Doubtful rather than plausible.
St Andrew . Melcombe Horsey . Dorset – scratch dial?
St Andrew has plenty of further interest in the broader category of church marks. The porch is very rewarding. I usually post about such marks separately but the ones below deserve a place here.
The top row shows Marian V V marks (Virgin of Virgins), one type of so-called ritual protection mark (or apotropaic symbols) designed to ward off evil. There are plenty of less commonly found marks. The main photograph shows mediaeval porch seats with a magnificent inscription (G – PIC?) dated 1589.
St Andrew . Melcombe Horsey . Dorset – Marian marks, protection marks, graffiti, dates
GSS Category: Scratch Dials; Apotropaic Marks, Marian Marks, Church Graffiti
GRADE 1 † C14 origins, mainly C15 expansion; customary C19 work. A surprisingly large church for a small community hidden away in deepest (though not darkest) Dorset. Approached by lanes. The unusual name may derive from OE word ‘mapluldor’ (maple tree); shown as ‘Mapledre’ in DB*. 50.8528 / -2.3773 / ST735059
DIAL
Mappowder . Dorset . St Peter & St Paul – Scratch Dial
Located on the S wall near E window, a small single dial with 10 lines radiating from a fairly large style hole. C15. Of particular interest is that, most unusually, 2 of the lines meet at their outer ends (GLP) or even cross (BSS). The angled shot shows it best – and see diagram below. GLP suggests this arrangement roughly coincides with the Mass time Terce (9h) and may emphasise it, as a pock or a deeper cut radial might.
Mappowder . Dorset . St Peter & St Paul – Scratch Dial
St George is a wonderful church with Saxon origins, C12 foundation, C15 tower; and much T H Wyatt work / restoration mid C19. Treasures include the C12 font, a `truly amazing piece’ (Pevsner) of black Tournai marble. High up on the third stage of the C15 tower is a magnificent C18 sundial: details HERE and an image below.
SCRATCH DIAL
While visiting St George, I decided to have a brief look at the exterior for church marks in general: graffiti, dates, masons’ marks etc. I was not expecting much, in particular because of the extensive C19 work. However on the W end buttress of the C15 tower, facing SW, there was a large incised design worth inspection.
St George . Preshute . Wilts – scratch dial on the W buttress of the tower
The design is a partial / eroded circle with a central shallow style hole. A noon line extends downwards to the edge of the circle, passing through a pock on the way and ending with a shallow pock. Other pocks mark the approximate edge of the circle on both sides of the noon line. In the lower L quadrant, the pock between the style hole and the pock at the edge of the circle may have been to emphasise the 9-line as indicating the time of a morning Mass, in this case Terce.
St George . Preshute . Wilts – scratch dial on the W buttress of the tower
The British Sundial Society BSS has considered the evidence and added the Preshute dial to its Mass Dial records. In many ways a lucky find, since I was not looking for nor expecting a dial at all.
St George . Preshute . Wilts – scratch dial on the W buttress of the tower
GRADE I . C14 (first record 1291); C15 expansion; late C19 work. See HE for details of this interesting church, with its fine portico. A few miles N. of Sherborne or Yeovil. 51.0225 / -2.5754 / ST597249
DIALS
DIAL 1
The medieval dial is easily found on S wall of the chancel, on the buttress E of the priest’s door. The approximate semicircle embraces an almost compete set of 6-to-6 lines. There are several pocks, large and small. BSS notes include: 1. Worn. Repositioned. Octaval, Tides. 2. Dial (Norman?) with tides, with duodecimal, sometimes both. 3. Mason-cut or roughly scratched. 4. Tide dial, roman numerals, extra line at 7. I have to say (as an amateur) that I can’t match all these features to this dial or either of them if both are being described together (see below).
The dial is large, almost the full width of the buttress. Unusually, it is cut over 4 stones. Note the low pock some way directly below the noon line. Most of the dial is cut on the Hamstone E quoin, the lower rim extending onto the 2 stones below. These stones match those around them. However the L side of the dial is cut on grey stone not matched elsewhere nearby.
I was puzzled by the suggested repositioning of the (entire) dial. An alternative theory might be that the dial was positioned where it is now. Over time, the L side became eroded or damaged and was replaced with a different kind of stone (perhaps being used for repairs elsewhere on the church). The new stone was then cut to match the design of the original. Looked at closely, the ‘new’ L side design does not in fact match the rest accurately. Not all lines follow exactly; there are no pocks; the incisions are clearer. Does this support a later replacement (and possibly harder) stone?
DEH visited in May 1914 and recorded 182. (2) This dial is on the first buttress to the e. of the priest’s door. It is 5 feet 9 inches above the ground, the noonline is 5 1/2 inches in length, the stylehole is 1 1/8 inches in depth by 3/4 of an inch in diameter, and the aspect is s. by 10° e. Type 5c. May 18th, 1915.
Dial 2 also creates some confusion, not least its location. BSS does not record this dial as a separate entry from Dial 1 but may be referring to it especially in the note 4. Tide dial, roman numerals. Dial 1 does not have visible roman numerals but Dial 2 does.
Queen Camel . Somerset . St Barnabas – dial 2
This dial is located high up above the portico, below the parapet of the nave seen as clerestory with parapetBLB. It is quite damaged, with a modern gnomon and a flaking layer of blue paint that makes it stand out (see header image). It’s hard to date the dial. Similar dated dials in the region are quite often early C18 or even C17. The dial is conventional of its kind, carefully graduated. The numerals are set in a frame, and italicised each side of the noon line.
DEH’s description of his second St Barnabas dial is another puzzle:
181. (1) This dial is on the s.e. buttress of the s. aisle. It is 6 feet 7 1/2 inches above the ground, the noonline is 5 inches in length, the stylehole is invisible, and the aspect is s. by 10° e. The dial is curious, as it has the lines arranged much as they are in an ordinary sundial, with Roman numerals cut at the ends. There may have been a slit for a gnomon, now carefully cemented up. Probably this should not rank as a Scratch dial.
There is a significant problem. The location DEH gives for it, six feet up on a buttress, is totally different from this now blue dial, yet his description broadly matches it and his comment that it probably should not rank as a Scratch dial is clearly apposite. I may have missed a second buttress scratch dial, even though I have been back to check. Or else perhaps DEH made a simple error in compiling his notes of several churches visited at one time in one area (I have come across a couple of similar instances). So this dial, now blue, is the one he meant but mis-located.
GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN 