Medieval Sundial – Page 9 – GAUDIUM SUB SOLE: Scratch Dials & Sundials Medieval to Modern

BINCOMBE . DORSET . HOLY TRINITY – Scratch Dial

Published on July 22, 2023July 22, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

GRADE I † Late 12th-century origins (parts of nave & chancel evident). Mainly C15 with later additions; S porch added C17 using old stonework; extensive restoration 1865. C13 font; Purdue bell 1658. Off the beaten track in a valley midway between Dorchester & Weymouth. Hardy-esque. 50.6599 / -2.445 / SY686845

Bincombe Church 1802 (Gentleman’s Magazine)

DIAL

Bincombe is a hidden village in the folds of the hills inland from the pleasures of Weymouth. It’s a mere 20m from our house yet until I visited a church nearby, it wasn’t on my radar at all. I must have passed close by it hundreds of times.

The dial is located on the E jamb of the SW chancel window, about 2m from ground level . GLP describes 4 short lines, with the noon indicator being the gap between two of them. He notes that the dial must have been moved to its position for reuse as part of the window jamb, truncating 2 lines LHS. Finally, he concludes that, the window being C15, the dial predates 1400.

The dial, small and chunky, is in the top L corner of the dial stone. I haven’t seen one quite like it. The gnomon hole is surprisingly deep for such a little dial. In situ (and in the photos), there are ghosts of 2 or 3 lines LRQ angling towards the hole (but not converging?) Probably best disregarded.

CHURCH MARKS

Holy Trinity has a fine selection of crosses / protection marks drilled into the porch entrance. Here are a couple of examples.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

All photos, Keith Salvesen; engraving from Wiki

HARDINGTON MANDEVILLE . SOM . ST MARY (revisited) – Scratch Dial

Published on July 17, 2023July 17, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

DEDICATION † ST MARY – 1123 (on earlier site)

LISTING † II*

LOCATION † 3m SW of Yeovil, near E & W Coker 50.9048 / -2.6949 / ST512119

An extended village close to the A30 yet approached by lanes (as they are actually named) rather than roads. A peaceful feel to it, especially at dusk ~~when this poor photo was taken~~. The church had ‘much work’ carried out in C15 and C18. Tower probably of 1123, in three stages, font possibly from same date. BLB.

I visited St Mary a couple of years ago at dusk (it was last on a list), so I have re-photographed the church and updated the post.

DIAL † At the W. end and quite easily overlooked. DEH did not investigate or list it in 1915. A full circle, one clear radial and a square style hole. Possible trace of outer circle top left. Not noted in BLB, HE, nor in TWC extensive list of Somerset dials. I found only one reference to this dial that led me here; since then, one passing reference to a sundial in the porch – perhaps this dial relocated in C15?

NOTES The circular font is thought to be original dating from 1123, and the clock mechanism was built and installed before 1707. There are 6 bells in the tower, 3 of which are from the Purdue (Closworth) foundry, with the earliest being dated 1591

GSS Category – Scratch Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

KINGSBURY EPISCOPI . SOM . ST MARTIN – Scratch Dial

Published on July 11, 2023May 1, 2024 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST MARTIN . KINGSBURY EPISCOPI . SOM

GRADE 1 † C14, C15 with C19 restorations. Predominantly Perp. A large and impressive building in a small community, admired by PEV: ‘of great interest’. A companion to nearby Huish Episcopi. 9m NW of Yeovil. 50.9865 / -2.8042 / ST436210

NOTE: this post has been superseded in April 2024 after a visit in sunshine. The faint dial markings owing to poor light are now legible. The text is much the same. See the new post HERE

DIAL

The dial is located on the W buttress on the S side, and has a gnomon hole large enough to be seen from the church path. DEH visited in Sept 1912 and noted that, because the dial is about 8′ above ground level, it would have been moved to its present position during reconstruction of the tower (the oldest part of the church).

The dial is very eroded, and it is now hard to make out the details. DEH describes a complete wheel of thin lines without a circle. More than a hundred years later, the design is very faint indeed. Neither inspection nor photos reveal what DEH will have seen.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

WIGMORE . HEREFS . ST JAMES – Scratch Dials

Published on June 28, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST JAMES . WIGMORE . HEREFS

GRADE I † On a hilltop overlooking the village, next to the ruins of Wigmore Castle. Saxon origins with good remains of herringbone brickwork visible; early Norman nave c1050. Extended / altered / restored from C14 (tower) on. An impression of a fortified church, esp. tower at W end. 9m from Ludlow. 52.3166 / -2.8626 / SO412690

DIALS

DIAL 1

Dial 1 is on the SE face of the buttress in NE corner of the chancel (ie at the back of E end of the church), so at some stage re-sited as of little use for its intended purpose it its current position. There are 2 lines radiating from the style hole in the dial stone. In canonical terms, the deeper cut line equates roughly with Nones, and the upper line with Vespers, an unusually specific emphasis on the afternoon and evening, with no line for noon or earlier.

I wondered if, when relocated, the dial stone was rotated by 90º anticlockwise. If ‘corrected’, the short line would be the noon line, and the deeper-cut line would mark Tierce. But it is not very convincing and probably I am overthinking a very simple dial.

DIAL 1 ROTATED 90º

BSS DIAGRAM

DIAL 2

Dial 2 on the wall of S aisle is similarly simple with 2 lines only. One does not actually meet the gnomon. Of the sort that can be read more easily in B&W

DIAL 3

Dial 3 is low down on chancel, S doorway. There are 7 pocks in a semicircle, with the gnomon hole top centre. When I visited there were various obstacles in the supposed location. I found nothing to match the diagram below, and having moved a large planter to one side, this is the nearest pattern I could find.

SAXON HERRINGBONE PATTERN

GSS Category: Scratch Dial

All photos Keith Salvesen except Dial 2 (BSS records)

CHARTREUSE DE MÉLAN . TANINGES . FRANCE – Vertical Dial on C13 Abbey

Published on June 23, 2023June 23, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

The Chartreuse was founded in 1285 as a Carthusian nunnery and continued its religious functions until the French Revolution. Thereafter it became a school and in due course an orphanage. A disastrous fire in 1967 destroyed almost all the buildings on the site, with loss of life. Only the church and its cloister now remain. The church is an exhibition space and the lawns around it feature examples of modern art, from interesting via enjoyable to a few that are a matter of personal taste.

The dial is included by MICHEL LALOS in his excellent French Cadrans Solaires site. Anyone who has in interest in sundials in France will benefit hugely by using this free resource. It is accessible, informative, and easy to use – not least because the dials are featured by Départment with a map for dial locations. The entry for Mélan is :

Cadran peu déclinant de l’après-midi, gravé et peint sur enduit, très dégradé, fines lignes, demies, plus de chiffres dans bandeaux, traces de blason et décor

Dial slightly declining in the afternoon, engraved, painted on rendering, very degraded, fine lines, half-hour lines, numbers within a frame, traces of coat of arms and decoration.

There are paint remnants at the top of the dial, where (presumably) it has been protected by the eaves. The gnomon hole at the top of the coat of arms is square. The dial is obviously old and I wondered if it might be dateable. Checking the apparent shape of the escutcheon, I discovered that it was first recorded as an armorial design in late C17 and (conveniently) turns out to be known as French-style. Overall, one might reasonably conclude that this dial is C18.

MEMORIAL STONE 1690

Chartreuse de Mélan . Taninges . France – Memorial Tablet 1690

GSS Category: Vertical Dial; France Sundial; Cadrans Solaires; Dials Abroad

All photos: Keith Salvesen; source used MICHEL LALOS

CLEY-NEXT-THE-SEA . NORFOLK . ST MARGARET – A Horizontal Vertical dial

Published on June 8, 2023June 8, 2023 by Rolling Harbour1 Comment

St Margaret of Antioch . Cley-Next-The-Sea . Stained Glass Window (cr Keith Salvesen)

ST MARGARET . CLEY-NEXT-THE-SEA . NORFOLK

GRADE 1 † C14 and C15. An important and rather wonderful church, part-ruined. One of SJ‘s 1000 Best Churches: a sea church stranded inland. PEV describes a most striking and improbable-looking building, splendid from the S, but splendid in large parts rather than as a whole. 52.9464 / 1.0475 / TG048431

DIAL

I am grateful to my friends in Cley, Hanne Siebers and Klausbernd Vollmar, for discovering and photographing this most unusually positioned dial that has been incorporated into the floor of the church, serving a new purpose despite its damaged state.

The lines are more-or-less equally spaced, suggesting that the dial’s aspect was originally due S. The hours are separated by lozenges, and half-hours are marked. At the back / top end of the dial, there is considerable damage. It is just possible to make out a semicircle with a hole where the gnomon would have been. The incised numerals VII, VIII, III, and IV are less worn and indeed are surprisingly sharp, which might suggest that the dial was below a ledge of some sort that protected the upper part from weathering. One puzzle is the way in which VIII is split by a single crack, yet part of the numeral appears to be missing completely.

DATING THE DIAL

I initially thought that the dial was ±1800. The date of its removal and repositioning was unrecorded in the usual sources. As it turns out (with many thanks to Rev. Richard Lowery and Richard Jefferson) the change of location happened within the last 50 years or so. The dial had been high up on the S porch, but had become a danger. It was taken down and set in the floor of the chancel. The damage occurred at some stage during the relocation.

The earliest depiction I can find is a lovely drawing by John Sell Cotman dated 1818. It gives the dial due prominence and I think it can be confidently dated to ±1750. The work interestingly show the state of ruination as Cotman saw it.

St Margaret . Cley-next-the-Sea – John Sell Cotman – Art Institute of Chicago

Old photos and postcards can be a good way to approximate a date (or a span)

In 1959, C L S Linnell produced a Booklet for the Church. It was obviously successful – there were 4 reprints, the last in 1973. The cover photo of the Church shows the dial in its rightful place (though quite probably it was not updated for the reprints). Certainly by 2000, the dial had been repurposed.

An excellent account of the church and some of its medieval details (roof bosses &co) can be found with this link NORFOLK CHURCHES.

GSS Category: Sundial; Vertical Dial; Old Dial; Repositioned Dial

Photographs: header photo, Keith Salvesen; dial photos (with edits for clarity), Hanne Siebers and Klausbernd Vollmar with thanks as ever for their interest in this dial project and for their excellent contributions from other churches; other images os / cc / as shown

SOUTH PERROTT . DORSET . ST MARY – Scratch Dial

Published on May 30, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST MARY . SOUTH PERROTT . DORSET

GRADE I † C13 origin; tower rebuilt and alterations C15 . Modern (C20) restorations. Early C13 font. Unusual appearance with pleasing matched roof-lines. BHO notes On S.E. buttress of S. transept—scratch dial*. 3m SE of Crewkerne. 50.8571 / -2.7514 / ST472066

DIAL

A conundrum. BBS records (1997) show a complex dial, part-encircled and with 10 lines (one extended) and 12 distinct pocks. GLP notes that the continuation of the circumference onto the stone above indicates that the dial is in its original location. He suggests that it may be the remains of a LHS half-circle (cf HOLWELL and HERMITAGE).

GLP also points out disapprovingly an attempted ‘restoration’ with thin lines scratched along some of the original lines and part of the circumference line… and most of the holes ‘cleaned up’. These lines can be seen in the images below.

However, although a close shot shows the recently added lines, the dial did not reveal the considerable detail shown in the diagram. I am equipped with a camera and a pair of eyes, but (as an amateur) I could not read the S Perrott dial as I had hoped to.

Details of a dial can sometimes be seen more clearly in a B&W photo. It works to a limited extent here, but not enough to bring out, in 2023, the overall design as recorded in the past.

*It is slightly unusual for sources such as BHO, HE, BLB, to acknowledge scratch dials

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Gargoyle

All photos: Keith Salvesen

BURCOMBE . WILTS . ST JOHN – Scratch Dial; Vertical Dial

Published on May 23, 2023May 24, 2023 by Rolling Harbour2 Comments

ST JOHN . BURCOMBE WITHOUT (N Burcome) . WILTS

GRADE II* † Saxon origins (vestiges still visible); C13, C15; rebuilt tower 1667 (unusually, lower than the nave roof-line); restorations (Wyatt). Split from Burcombe village (S Burcombe) by A30 and hard to find. St John is the sole remnant of N Burcombe. Declared redundant 2005. I could not gain entry. 5m W of Salisbury. 51.0798 / 1.8971 / SU073311

DIAL

The Burcombe dial is a slight secret, mentioned in TWC‘s Wiltshire dial list but not elsewhere that I can see. St John is also hard to find: check the location carefully before you try. This is a pretty dial, a messy mix of lines and pocks below the horizontal. The noon line – usually an eye-catcher – is upstaged by lines with varying degrees of curve and pocking. It’s hard to interpret, but the two ‘raking light’ photos add a bit of perspective.

St John . Burcombe . Wilts – Scratch Dial

VERTICAL DIAL

St John also has a canted vertical dial above the porch, with a pleasingly robust gnomon. It fits in with the stonework around it and looks old. However any details on the dial face have been eroded. Unfortunately I didn’t have a proper camera with me to check closely for lines etc. but I wouldn’t expect revelations.

Quaere placename – a mapping mistake

In the early 17th century, when John Speed prepared a map of Wiltshire he copied a version by Christopher Saxton, which showed but did not name North Burcombe. On his own map, Speed labelled the village Quaere (Latin for query), presumably because he intended to check the name later, but never did, and his engraver copied the annotation as if it were the village’s name. Later map printers in turn copied Speed’s map and ‘Quaere’ appeared on maps of Wiltshire for 145 years until Emanuel Bowen corrected the mistake in his 1755 map of the county. (WIKI)

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Vertical Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

ALCISTON CHURCH . W SUSSEX . NO DEDICATION – 4 Scratch Dials

Published on May 9, 2023May 10, 2023 by Rolling Harbour2 Comments

GRADE I † Saxon origins; DB as Aelfsige. Dedication unknown. Dated to C14 (BLB notes C13 chancel & porch). C19 restoration. Incumbents recorded from 1353. In a most attractive setting down a long path, and grouped with a large medieval tithe barn, dovecote &co. 8m E of Lewes, 6m W of Polegate. 50.8299 / 0.1369 / TQ505055

DIALS

All 4 dials are cut on either side of the blocked S doorway of the nave. 1 LHS and 3 RHS, of which an adjacent pair are low down, almost at ground level.

DIAL 1

On the L jamb of the blocked doorway, the most advanced and clearest of the 4 dials. Mid-C15? Encircled, with a full cross of vertical (12-12) and horizontal (6-6) lines emphasised by deeper incision. The lower half has 6 additional lines (and hints of a couple more). A single line UR quadrant divides it fairly accurately. The gnomon hole is (now) rather large for the size of the dial but that may have happened in the course of its history.

DIAL 2

RHS of the doorway, the same height as Dial 1. A much simpler dial with 2 lines only. The worn circle contains just 2 lines LLQ, one faint and the other deeper cut. Possibly the faint line was originally the marker for Mass, and was superseded by a more visible line (hand-cut without a rule, it would seem).

Alciston Church . E Sussex – Scratch Dial 2

DIALS 3 & 4

Just above ground level are 2 enjoyable dials on the same stone, presumably re-sited from a more visible position. However the stone sits comfortably with the overall design of the doorway, so I wonder whether all the dials (or those RHS) were moved to their present position when the doorway was blocked / during restoration?

The dials are adjacent – in fact, contiguous. Both circles are endearingly wonky, though the lines are cleanly cut. Dial 3 has been more carefully incised, with some attention paid to accuracy. Dial 4 probably came first and the more sophisticated Dial 3 later replaced it.

Dial 3 has 2 small dotted crosses within its circumference, also suggesting a later date than Dial 4. One cross consists of 4 separate dots; the other has the dots connected by lines (the vertical is very faint).

Alciston Church . E Sussex – Scratch Dial 3 & 4

DIALS 2, 3, and 4 as a group

Alciston is one of several rewarding churches in the area for a visit. You could combine it with climbing Firle Beacon which, at a height of 217m, counts as a Marilyn.

Frederick Barrett – Sussex Archaeological Collections 100 1962

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Medieval Sundial; Dotted Cross graffiti

Photos: Keith Salvesen except as shown; Church Information appreciated

FIRLE . E SUSSEX . ST PETER – 2 Scratch Dials

Published on May 6, 2023May 6, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST PETER . FIRLE . E SUSSEX

GRADE I † C12 with earlier origins; chancel & tower C13. Spiritual home of the Gage family of Firle Place, with fine memorials to the family; also close connections with the Charleston set. Good brasses, work by modern artists. St Peter has 2 dials. 5m E of Lewes. 50.845 / 0.0884 / TQ471071

DIAL 1

This dial was recorded (1993) as located on a quoin stone on the W side of the N porch and repositioned at some time in its history. Since then, in 2018, the N door has been incorporated in an extension for a loo and related purposes. It is very well done but from the outside there is now no access to the old doorway. The dial must be reached from inside the church, where in the new annex the dial can be seen RHS of the original N door. Commendably, the dial is behind a small perspex screen to protect it, but not directly over it – a thoughtful way to display and conserve a small piece of history.

BSS notes the dial as repositioned, eroded, damaged and it was deemed a rudimentary (Norman) dial. The only marks detectable now are the faint remnants of a circle among the blotches of lichen.

St Peter . Firle . E Sussex – Scratch Dial 1

DIAL 2

Located on the E-facing wall of the S doorway, and obviously re-sited at some stage to be of any use. A clean straight hole in the centre of the stone but even close to, no lines or dots now visible. I am pretty certain it is / was a dial, but some might call it doubtful. The stone is quite frangible amid the flint, and erosion over the centuries was perhaps inevitable.