DURLSTON CASTLE . SWANAGE . DORSET – Vertical Dial (1887)

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DURLSTON CASTLE . SWANAGE . DORSET

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Durlston Country Park is close to Swanage and has much to offer. The ‘modern’ Castle was completed in 1891. There are extensive grounds, 5 walking / nature trails, sculptures, epochal details chiseled into stone tablets, Art Gallery, tea room, views across to IoW, a huge C19 stone globe, significant jurassic finds.

More germane here, high on S face is a fine vertical sundial (1887). Below it are two stone tablets inscribed with times and tides worldwide.

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DIAL

The dial is inset in the South wall about 5 m above the ground. It shows 6am to 6pm in half and quarter hours. Uses XII & IIII. White lines and chapter ring on a beige rectangular dial-plate all within a four piece chamfered stone frame. The Roman numerals arranged vertically. BSS

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An angled view reveals that the gnomon incorporates the initial B, standing for (George) Burt, the Victorian entrepreneur owner who conceived the idea of what we can still see today. It was (oddly?) described at the time as the most magnificently conceived restaurant.

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Two large incised tablets: essentially they deal with Time & Tides respectively

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GREAT GLOBE

    Great Globe (1887), a vast perfectly formed stone ball inscribed with an eclectic selection of places. Many will be little known or unknown to random visitors such as me. The Society Isles (Pacific) sound pleasant.

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    COMPASS POINTS

    Stone Benches Surrounding the globe, at various heights and angles on a steep stope, are stone benches, each clearly marked with a compass point. In an ideal world there would be an equally fine analemmatic sundial.

    GSS Category:

    All photos by Keith Salvesen except header image Huligano0 OS CC

    BRADFORD-ON-AVON . WILTS . TITHE BARN – Scratch Dial

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    TITHE BARN . BRADFORD-ON-AVON . WILTS

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    GRADE I ✣ The huge tithe barn is dated to the 1330s, replacing an older barn. Even allowing for restoration and maintenance over the centuries, the barn very much retains the feel of a building unchanged for several hundred years. Its situation right by – and lower than – the K&A canal adds to the pleasure of the general surroundings.

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    DIAL

    Scratch dials on buildings other than churches are rare. TWC mentions only 4 in his (admittedly dated) list of non-church dials, one of which is a tithe barn. Featured in this project are KENILWORTH ABBEY which has a dial on a barn that is a small part of the whole; and MUCHELNEY ABBEY which has one on the S wall of the Abbot’s Lodging. Neither can be regarded as entirely secular.

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    The Bradford dial is located on the S wall on a buttress quoin stone near the entrance of the large E doorway. It is considerably eroded and damaged. I can’t see any trace of a dial above the horizontal and I take it to be a semicircle. There are ± 8 visible lines – impossible to be sure. The noon line is deeper cut and 9 (terce) seems more sharply incised, suggesting the main hour of observance. I am almost certain there there are terminal pocks on several lines, an impression taken more from the photos than from direct observation.

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    PROTECTION MARKS AND GRAFFITI

    Unsurprisingly for such a magnificent medieval structure, there is a vast omnium-gatherum of graffiti and protection marks, mainly at or close to the great entrances as one might expect. Anyone remotely interested in such marks will have a field day. Here is a small gallery.

    ENGLISH HERITAGE

    BRADFORD-ON-AVON MUSEUM

    GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Scratch Dial on Barn; Secular Mass Dials; Protection Marks; Medieval Graffiti

    All photos: Keith Salvesen. Please ask for specific use permission to use any of these. Normally I am relaxed, but these images relate to parallel research.

     

    LYME REGIS . SUNDIAL HOUSE . MARINE PARADE – Ornate Vertical Dial (1903)

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    SUNDIAL HOUSE . MARINE PARADE . LYME REGIS

    GRADE II ✤ Set back from the Parade, the very visible sundial on what is described (BLB) as a 4-light splayed bay which descends through all storeys to ground floor, with sundial built into wall between 1st and ground floors. The house can be rented. The views of the Jurassic coastline and out to sea are wonderful (on a sunny Spring day, anyway). 50.7238 /  -2.9358 / SY340919

    DIAL

    The dial itself has roman numerals from 5am to 4pm with a long slender gnomon. It is set within an exuberantly decorative frame, with a somewhat enigmatic ‘sun in splendour’ beaming down on it. The house is dated 1903, and the dial must have been designed as a prominent decorative feature. It is in very good condition. The town’s unbeatable Jurassic credentials are show in the large ammonites set into the surrounding stonework.

    MOTTO

    HORAS NON NUMERO NISI SERENAS

    Gatty has a long entry (115) on this motto. Her translation is I only reckon the bright hours. She notes its use as a popular inscription, giving a dozen other locations where it can be found: the motto is too good to be uncommon. The earliest example of its use dates to c1500.

    GSS Category: Vertical Dial; Modern Sundial; Sundial Motto

    All photos: Keith Salvesen

    MAIDEN BRADLEY (2) . WILTS . ALL SAINTS – Unusual Diptych Dial

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    ALL SAINTS . MAIDEN BRADLEY (∏ Retired QA)

    ALL SAINTS . MAIDEN BRADLEY . WILTS

    GRADE I ♱ Saxon foundation. C12 (first record 1102) early C14, C15, 1845 restoration. C12 Purbeck marble font bowl. Jacobean box pews. Spiritual home of the Dukes of Somerset, duly commemorated. Original 14th century oak door, fittings. Scratch Dial featured HERE. 7m SW of Warminster. Longleat & Stourhead nearby. 51.1468 / -2.2821 / ST803386

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    DIAL

    All Saints has an unusual and intriguing double-faced sundial above the porch, thought to be C18. At first sight, looking towards the porch, it could be a cube dial. The 2 sides are at right angles facing SE and SW. Between them, they cover the ‘6-to-6’ time span. There are faint markings on the dial faces – roman numerals, lines (see below).

    BSS records two declining dials of similar design believed to be made from one sheet of metal folded at the centre. Between them they show 6am to 6pm in half hours.

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    SOUTH ASPECT

    It is worth noting that the two gnomons are matched in both style, and position on each face. This is only (I think) possible with equal SE / SW angles. BSS notes SE dial may be ‘slow‘.

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    SOUTH EAST ASPECT

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    SOUTH WEST ASPECT

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    DIAL MARKINGS

    A poor photo enlarged, showing the visible markings – lines and the reciprocal roman numerals at the edge of each face.

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    SCRATCH DIAL HERE

    GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

    All photos Keith Salvesen except header, Retired QA (OS CC)

    POTTERNE . WILTS . ST MARY – Scratch Dial

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    St Mary . Potterne . Wilts (Benefice drawing)

    ST MARY . POTTERNE . WILTS

    GRADE I ❖ Saxon origins; built C13; C15 work to tower; restorations 1870s. A remarkably uniform E.E. design HE; An E.E. church of exceptional purity and classicity PEV. Features of interest include an Anglo-Saxon tub font with rim inscribed in Latin; a C14 font; fine woodwork; C17(?) Royal Arms of puzzling design. Good graffiti on pillars. Outside, there is an unusual Dole Stone; and the scratch dial featured here. 2m S of Devizes. 51.326 / -2.0079 /  ST995585

    DIAL

    The dial is located on a quoin stone of the buttress at W end of S side. The gnomon hole is centred quite accurately, and surrounded by a ring of small pocks of roughly equal size. The spacing is uneven. 12 of them are drilled in the lower half, in a semicircle that includes the horizontal ‘6-to-6’ line. The other 7 are above the horizontal in the night zone. The pock at notional midnight has 3 on either side, forming an almost symmetrical design. These can only be for decorative purposes, being of no use in marking the passage of the day / night.

    As for radial lines, despite erosion 5 lines are visible – 3 LLQ, a faint noon line, the horizontal line RHS. Each terminates with a pock. There remain hints of 2 or 3 others.

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    GRAFFITI . FONT WITH LATIN INSCRIPTION . COMPASS-DRAWN PROTECTION MARKS

    The VV in the first image, assuming it is an initial, is in the distinctive form of a Marian mark, a commonly found protection symbol standing for the ‘Virgin of Virgins’.

    GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

    All photos Keith Salvesen; header drawing from the Benefice site

    STEEPLE ASHTON . WILTS . ST MARY – Large Vertical Dial

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    ST MARY . STEEPLE ASHTON . WILTS

    GRADE I ❖ Late C15 (dedication 1281). The tower belies the village’s name. In 1670 the original spire was twice struck by lightning, and destroyed. The 4-stage tower became the solution. One of the finest Perpendicular churches in the county PEV. Much of interest both interior and exterior. Take your time. Splendid grotesques. 5m E of Trowbridge. 51.3131 / -2.1356 / ST906571

    The Roman numerals are stylishly incised, and the design of the dial is sophisticated enough to include quarter hour lines within the thin outer circle. I haven’t (yet) found a specific reference to the date of the dial. It ornaments the rather plain Tudor-ish porch and from the style, my hunch is that it was cut after the steeple dramas, and perhaps because of them.

    ALL SAINTS . ALTON PANCRAS

    The ambitious scale of the dial is comparable with the vast dial of All Saints, Alton Priors below, which is about 18m east LINK

    GROTESQUES

    ST MARY . STEEPLE ASHTON . WILTS

    GSS Category: Vertical Dial; Vertical Church Dial; Huge Church Dial; Incised Church Dial

    All photos: Keith Salvesen

    WEST LAVINGTON . WILTS . The Dial House

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    THE DIAL HOUSE . WEST LAVINGTON . WILTS

    A Grade II* listed William and Mary manor house dated to 1691, with a fine sundial to grace its symmetrical exterior. It’s hard to tell if the dial is contemporary with the building of the manor, or was added during a later restoration. Given the dial’s very specific location, it is perhaps more likely to be original than a later addition. 6m S of Devizes

    The quarter hours are marked inside the narrow frame between the dial face and the numerals

    BSS Category: Vertical Dial

    All photos: Keith Salvesen

    MAIDEN BRADLEY (1) . WILTS. ALL SAINTS – Scratch Dial

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    ALL SAINTS . MAIDEN BRADLEY (∏ Retired QA)

    ALL SAINTS . MAIDEN BRADLEY . WILTS

    GRADE I ♱ Saxon foundation. C12 (first record 1102) early C14, C15, 1845 restoration. C12 Purbeck marble font bowl. Jacobean box pews. Spiritual home of the Dukes of Somerset, duly commemorated. Original 14th century oak door, fittings. 18th-century metal sundial LINK. 7m SW of Warminster. Longleat, Stourhead nearby. 51.1468 / -2.2821 / ST803386

    DIAL

    The dial is located on a quoin stone on the angled W buttress of the nave, in effect facing SE. There are 8 lines (2 faint RHS), with a hint of a horizontal across the filled gnomon hole. In LLQ the large gap between the first 2 lines appears to have a pock midway between them, spaced accurately enough to be deliberate. If so, it may have been intended as a marker of Terce as the most significant hour of observance.

    TWO-FACED DIAL: above the porch is an intriguing metal dial with 2 faces at right angles, facing SE and SW. This will be written up separately.

    GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

    All photos Keith Salvesen except header, Retired QA (OS CC)

    WORTH MATRAVERS . DORSET . ST ALDHELM’S CHAPEL – Protection Marks & Graffiti

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    ST ALDHELM’S CHAPEL

    GRADE I ♱ St Aldhelm’s is an isolated Norman chapel high on the Dorset cliffs with only a coastguard station and a couple of cottages for company. Its quite a walk from the car park. There are various theories about the chapel and its purpose. Was it a chapel originally? There’s no evidence of an altar or piscina. Might it have been built as a watchtower before taking on a religious purpose, evidenced by payments made in C13 to a chaplain? There is a thorough Wiki entry for the chapel HERE.

    Besides sundials from Saxon times to the present day, other medieval features merit inclusion here. The relevant pages can be found in the main menu. A broad category of ‘Church Marks’ includes protection marks such as the Marian VV, daisy wheels and other circular / interlocking circles dates and initials, taper marks, masons’ marks.

    PROTECTION MARKS & GRAFFITI

    HIGHLIGHTS FROM ST ALDHELM’S CHAPEL

    PURBECK RADAR MEMORIAL

    Commemorating the pioneering radar work carried out in WW2, with an inspired design that harks back to the fire beacons that warned of the Spanish Armada.

    All photos: Keith Salvesen

    KINGSBURY EPISCOPI . SOM . ST MARTIN (2) – SCRATCH DIAL

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    ST MARTIN . KINGSBURY EPISCOPI . SOM

    GRADE I ♱ C14, C15; C19 restoration. Mainly Perpendicular, with a very impressive 3-stage tower. C14 font. Splendid gargoyles. Very close to MUCHELNEY ABBEY. 9m NW of Yeovil 50.9865 / -2.8042 / ST436210

    NOTE This post supplements a previous post written last year HERE. There was poor light with inadequate details of the dial, now remedied in sunlight. The text is much the same.

    DIAL

    The dial is cut on the W buttress, S side of the tower on a large stone that is the width of the buttress. DEH visited in Sept 2012 – this was one of his early churches, perhaps because of its proximity to Downside Abbey. He describes a large, deep style hole. He counted a full complement of 24 lines: a complete wheel of thin lines without a circle. Nearly 100 years later, the design is not as clear-cut.

    DEH also noted that the dial stone may have been moved during restoration of the tower, which might account for its height on the buttress (8 ft).

    GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

    All photos: Keith Salvesen