GRADE 1 ❖ Mainly C15, C16; C19 restoration. Plenty of interest for the visitor / church crawler, including C15 wagon roof; particularly well furnished interiorBLB; box pews; fine Jacobean woodwork. Peal of 6 bells (earliest 1613). Inc. by Simon Jenkins in ‘England’s Thousand Best Churches’, with photo. 51.1975 / -2.5873 / ST590444
DIAL
The existence of a scratch dial is debatable. The church was one of the earliest visited by DEH, on October 8th 1911. His record is one of the shortest of his entire project: On the buttress to the W of the priest’s door into the chancel is a stylehole at a height of 5′ 10″ from the ground. There are no remains of either a circle or lines, but from the soft nature of the stone they may have been weathered away.
Points in favour of dial status include its central position on the stone and the height. Against is the peculiarity of the hole itself; and the fact that the stone shows no sign of weathering, even 100+ years later,
GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Doubtful Dail eg
GRADE II* ❖ Norman origins, C14 work, rebuilt C15, restored 1872. An attractive church both outside and in. Visited by DEH on 6 Oct 1911 on one of his early dial expeditions from Downside Abbey. Roughly halfway between Wells and Shepton Mallet. 51.199 / -2.6094 / ST575446
DIAL
DEH recorded a single dial on W corner of S aisle. He noted a 2.5 inch deep gnomon hole, and commented ‘…this dial is cut on soft red sandstone and has all 12 hour lines… many of them probably added to the original design’. More than 100 years later, only 9 are legible.
GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Dial erosion
GRADE II* ❖ C13 and later, south aisle added 1870s. Three stage octagonal tower, a feature of this area of Somerset (see Barrington, Stoke St Gregory, North Curry, Podimore and Weston Bamfylde). Close by is a fine market cross with a cube dial, also found in other towns and villages locally (eg Martock, Ilchester) – separate post in due course. 51.0009 / -2.6818 / ST522226
DIAL
Without guidance, it would be easy to overlook the dial. DEH does not mention it. I only discovered it from the very informative church leaflet. Despite the clues to its position, it still took me a while to find the relocated and inverted dial, barely 2ft off the ground.
Dial details – Church Leaflet
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REVERSION
With relocated dials, especially inverted ones, it’s often worth seeing how they originally looked. This dial takes on a different appearance when righted.
The two dark areas are almost certainly the footings for a vertical sundial. The slight alignment to the right of vertical suggests a calculated angle. The leaflet note that the dial used to be high on the south wall of the nave definitely suggests a vertical dial rather than a scratch dial (which would be pointless in a high position). Seeing it in its original location, I might have described it as an inverted vertical dial with a damaged surround and erosion evident, especially RHS where faint lines can just be detected.
So, without being didactic, I can’t be sure that this is a scratch dial as opposed to a later vertical dial. All comments welcome.
GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Octagonal Church Tower Somerset; Vertical Dial
GRADE 1 ❖ Saxon / Norman origins. Chancel and nave c1350, rest C15, restorations 1869 and late C20. A fine example of a Somerset church, most rewarding to visit. Early C16 screen, bench ends of note. Jacobean inverted font. Splendid doors that look entirely original. A bier and an interesting clock (not openly accessible). 10m NW of Taunton. 51.0819 / -3.2461 / ST128321
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SCRATCH DIAL
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The dial is easily seen on W side of the priest’s door. It is a pleasingly straightforward quarter dial marking 6 to noon. The line spacing is somewhat random, and there is some confusion around noon, with faint lines detectable.
DEH visited St Lawrence on Sep 27th 1913, one of his early expeditions. He noted: The stylehole is large and oval, and may have been made so in efforts to extract the style. It is hard to see why this should be done with no new style added; but it does show that the removal of the gnomon was more than a century ago, and not a recent act of vandalism.
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VERTICAL DIAL 1653
BSS Record:The hours use XII for noon and IIII for four pm, and VI, VII and VIII am are written backwards (round the clock’), as is not uncommon. Around the gnomon are carved I HT S / WARDNES / 1653, the W of WARDNES being superimposed Vs, and the letters NE being conjoined, both presumably to save space.
The gnomon is an iron bar with a hooked tip, and the straight support has a curled spur on the upper side and its own hook at the top.
GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Vertical Dial; Dated Dial
GRADE 1 † Mid-C13 with earlier origins; expansion to C16; restorations by Ferrey and Scott 1860 and later. A most impressive Parish church with a 4-stage tower. Admired by PEV as one of the loveliest of Somerset churches on account of its splendid Perp. work on the nave; and for being remarkably airy and spacious. 50.9693 / -2.7687 / ST461191
DIALS
A most rewarding multi-dial church. As often, estimates of the number vary. DEH recorded 5 dials in June 1915 and included a photograph of the dial above in his book.
BHO refers to 7 dials [and also notes that one buttress on the north side has footholds cut in it to aid the recovery of fives balls from the leads when the game was played there in the 18th century. There’s a whole book to be written about the fives courts of Wessex] BSS records 7 dials, without details.
There are so many excellent dials to admire that I am not including interpretations of individual dials. The light was good for photos and the various designs speak for themselves. I haven’t given locations either. Most are in obvious places; also check sides of buttresses. It was a lot of fun finding a couple of new dials, and anyone reading this may prefer to investigate for themselves. DEH’s record is given at the end.
DIAL 1
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DIAL 2
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DIALS 3 & 4
DIAL 3
DIAL 4
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DIAL 5
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DIAL 6
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DIAL 7
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DIAL 8
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DIAL 9
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DIAL 10
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DIAL 11
ARCS etc
Having recently written up Winterbourne Stoke and a few other multi-dial churches, I have decided not to include a plain arc as (part of) a dial unless there’s at least one other dial-ish feature – evidence of a centered hole in the mortar line; perceptible lines; pocks; and so on. I’ll still feature them but not as part of a dial count. Unless corrected of course – please do.
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CONSECRATION CROSS OUTSIDE PORCH
ADDITIONAL NOTES
The pride of Martock Church is its superb angel roof, installed in the first decade of the 16th century and completed in 1513. The roof design is a king-post style with tracery infill between the truss beams. There are central pendants from each cross-beam, above which rise beautifully carved figures. (David Ross, Britain Express)
DOM ETHELBERT HORNE’S 5 DIALS
200. (1) This dial is on the w. side of the s. porch. It is 6 feet 1 inch above the ground. The noon line is 3 3/4 inches in length, the style hole is 1 inch deep, and is in a joint. The aspect is s. by 5° e. (See No. 12.)
201. (2) This dial is under the first window E. of the s. porch. It is 4 feet 7 inches above the ground, the noon line is 3 inches in length, the style hole is 1 3/4 inches deep, and the aspect is s. by 15° e. Type 6.
Dial No. 2 is of the unique shape that exists at Tintinhull (224) and Swainswick (25).
202. (3) This dial is on the second buttress e. of the s. porch. It is 5 feet 9 inches above the ground, the noon line is 3 1/2 inches in length, the style hole is very shallow, and the aspect is s. by 15° e. Type 3.
203. (4) This dial is under the third window e. of the s. porch. It is 3 feet 10 inches above the ground, the noon line is 2 inches in length, the style hole is If inches deep, and the aspect is s. by 15° e. Type 10.
204. (5) This dial is on the fifth buttress e. of the s. porch. It is 5 feet 1 inch above the ground, the noon line is 5 1/4 inches in length, the style hole is 1 1/4 inches deep, and the aspect is s. by 15° e. Type 5c.
GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial; Multiple Dial Church
GRADE II* † C13 (of which traces), C15, major C19 restoration. An attractive church to visit, close to Barrington Court NT. 50.9606 / -2.8884 / T377182
DIAL
DEH visited in Sept 1912 and recorded: The dial is on the W side of the Priest’s door… 2 early A.M. lines are all that show but the stone is badly weathered and others may have been on it.
The erosion is doubtless worse now. One can just about make out a short horizontal 6-line L side, and a trace line below. Without DEH’s pioneering scratch dial project, I doubt that this little dial would ever have achieved a later mention.
GRADE II* † Mainly C13, C14. Norman font. Alone on a hillside, accessible only on foot. Originally a separate parish from the close-by village of Stocklinch Magdalene; later amalgamated; now redundant and in the care of CCT. 3m NE of Ilminster. 50.9535 / -2.8813 / ST381174
DIAL
DEH visited St Mary in September 1912, one of his earliest field trips from Downside Abbey on his motorcycle in search of scratch dials. As he described it there is a doubtful dial on the E side of the Priest’s door. It is in a likely position, but the stone is so badly weathered that no lines can be traced upon it. To which I can only add even less so 100+ years later, especially with lichen obscuring scrutiny.
I include this record both because St Mary repays a visit for its location alone, and for completeness. Very close is the small Church of Stocklinch Magdalene, and it’s a short distance to BARRINGTON church with 4 scratch dials; and Barrington Court (NT) which has 2 outstanding pillar dials in the gardens.
On the same side of the priest’s door, 2 stones lower, is a smaller apparently drilled hole with some sort of lining (?), but also no dial-ish features.
GRADE l † C13 origins; mainly C15 with C19 slightly controversial restoration. Dec and Perp. A fine-looking church with a handsome octagonal tower (one of a number in the area). Picturesque PEV. Combine with Barrington Court (NT) – 2 remarkable pillar dials: one is a dodecahedron with pentagonal faces (post in due course). 4m N of Ilminster. 50.9592 / -2.8712 / ST389181
DEH the pioneering Downside monk visited on Sept 10th 1912 on one of his early dialling expeditions using a motorbike to get around. He recorded 3 dials in a group on the buttress at the W corner of the S transept. There is a fourth plausible dial in the same location.
DIALS
DIAL BUTTRESS
DIAL 1
This interesting dial has 10 / 11 radials extending from an enlarged gnomon hole. 8 & 9 are marked by deeper cut lines, suggesting the most important Mass time was Terce. The lower half of the dial has a few pocks on or near the circumference. Intriguingly the top half of the dial has a complete semi-circle of pocks. These are quite carefully graduated so that midnight has the largest, and on either side the size of pock reduces. There’s a trace of a single line upwards from the gnomon hole to midnight. DEH noted This dial has been added to and made into a wheel.
DIAL 2
Immediately above Dial 1, with a blocked gnomon hole in the mortar-line. There are 2 clear lines and 3 (4?) others. 2 (3?) appear to end in pocks.
DIAL 3
Dial 3 is sandwiched between Dials 1 and 4. The most obvious feature is the blocked hole. There is a faint noon line and the hint of a 9 line.
DIAL 4
On a quoin stone E of Dial 1 is a shallow hole from which a single thin line extends to mark noon. Plausibly a dial – especially as in a group – but perhaps not definite.
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
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
St Martin . Kingsbury Episcopi . Som – Scratch 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.
GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN 