Tag: Church Dial Vertical

WINTERBORNE STICKLAND . DORSET . ST MARY: 3 Scratch Dials

Published on by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment
St Mary . Winterborne Stickland . Dorset

❖ ❖ ❖

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

❖ ❖ ❖

SCRATCH DIALS

DIAL 1

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

❖ ❖ ❖

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).

❖ ❖ ❖

\

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

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

Published on by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

❖ ❖ ❖

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

❖ ❖ ❖

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.

❖ ❖ ❖

SW FACE

❖ ❖ ❖

SE FACE

❖ ❖ ❖

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

OMONVILLE-la-PETITE . COTENTIN . SAINT-MARTIN – Vertical Dial

Published on by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

SAINT MARTIN . OMANVILLE-la-PETIT . CONTENTIN

An attractive vertical dial, accurately angled, with Arabic numerals. Semi-circle perimeter and round top gnomon stay. There’s a slight jeux d’ésprit feel to the gnomon. There was no sun on the dial when we visited: I wondered how well it would work in practice.

GSS Category: Vertical Dial; Church Sundial France; Ornamental Gnomon

All photos: Keith Salvesen

PENZANCE . CORNWALL . ST MARY – Vertical Dial

Published on by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment
St Mary Penzance . Bill Henderson . Geo / Wikimedia

ST MARY . PENZANCE . CORNWALL

GRADE II* ✣ Originally a chantry chapel of Madron parish; records from 1321. In due course rebuilt, and reconsecrated 1838. Destructive arson in 1985; 2 recent attempts. 8 bells of interest. Some traces of the past remain, eg memorial tablets*. 50.1165 / -5.533 /  SW475300

VERTICAL DIAL

This slate dial with its bronze gnomon was originally made for a chapel near the church. The BSS records indicate that the dial declined 12º W in that position, but needed to be canted in its new position to correct for the different declination of the buttress of St Mary’s where it is now to be found.

The dial clearly predates the building of St Mary. Perhaps ± 1800 would cover it. For a chapel, the 5 minute intervals noted below suggest a quite sophisticated dial.

MOTTOES

There are two learned mottoes cut inside the arch at the top, with Father Time below them.

Solem quis dicere falsum audeat Who would dare to call the sun false (Virgil)
Tempus edax rerum Time the consumer of all things (Ovid)

CONSTRUCTION

Mrs Crowley, who sketched dials of Devon & Cornwall, noted a difference between stone top and bottom; and the horizontal line seems too high to be an indicator of the equinoxes and, in any case, there is no nodus on the gnomon. The engraving is good, there are decorative half-hour markers and the hours are divided down to five minute intervals.

In the sanctuary is a Baroque tablet to John Tremenheere, d. 1701, with Doric columns, broken segmental pediment and a winged skull at the base (HE). His tomb is in a family vault below the centre aisle. I am a direct descendent, but unlikely to join him.

GSS Category: Vertical Dial

All photos Keith Salvesen except header as cited