Somerset Mass Dial – GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN

STRATTON-ON-THE -FOSSE . SOMERSET . ST VIGOR – 3 Scratch Dials

Published on February 22, 2023 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

GRADE 1 † C12 origins; mainly C14; much rebuilt C15/C16; further rebuilding late C18; restoration C19. One of only two churches with this Dedication (Fulbourne Cambs is the other). A pleasing and unpretentious church. Very close to Downside Abbey/. 51.2552 / -2.4896 / ST659507

DIALS

Downside Abbey was home to Dom Ethelbert Horne, the pioneer dial collector and analyst who covered Somerset with skill and determination, using a motorcycle to get around. He began the project in 1913, and recorded the dials at St Vigor on Nov 3 – perhaps they were his first finds. His book with its careful explanations is a vade mecum for any dial enthusiast (even one with no connection with the County).

DIAL 1

Dial 1 is located at SW corner of the nave, high up (7′) on a quoin stone. DEH noted The Mass line in this dial is sharp and distinct, and made at a different time from the other lines. He makes no comment on the design. There are 6 lines each with a terminal pock, with hints of a couple more. DEH makes no mention of a gnomon, but with his usual thoroughness measured the depth of the hole. It is certain, therefore, that the existing (copper?) rod was inserted relatively recently.

DIAL 2

Dial 2 is on the buttress between S porch and E end of the nave. DEH commented: Encircled. No hour lines can be seen on this ancient and badly worn dial. the remains of 2 circles close apart. Were it not for the noticeable gnomon hole, it would be easy to pass this one by.

DIAL 3

To be found on the W side of the entrance to S porch, 3′ 3″ high. Or so noted DEH very specifically. He mentions a style hole and a noon line 3½” long, but I spent some time examining this area and indeed the corresponding position on E side of the doorway (because field notes are occasionally confused), with no convincing dial identifiable. Here are photographs of the location, for what they are worth…

DEDICATION

In C6 there was a ‘hermit preacher’ and Christian missionary who became Bishop of Bayeux. He died c537 AD and was canonized as St Vigor (Lat.) or in due course Saint Vigeur (Fr.). The Norman conquest brought his followers to England and his name first appears in an eleventh-century breviary at Worcester.

Another account is that in the early C12, manorial rights for Stratton passed to a Norman family who came from Saint-Vigor-le-Grand, Normandy.

ST VIGOR IN FRESCO

Frescoes at the Churches of St Vigor Ste Suzanne Les Coevrons, and St Vigor de Neau cc / os / tourisme

GSS Category: Scratch Dials

All photos Keith Salvesen; St Vigor as credited; source material Bath Record Office, Wiki

TINTINHULL . SOMERSET . ST MARGARET OF ANTIOCH – Multiple Scratch Dials

Published on December 14, 2022December 16, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

GRADE I † C13 et seq, on early C12 site. Gradual development but (unusually) with little obvious C19 work BHO. Good C16 bench ends. S porch built c1440, originally thatched, with the polar scaphe sundial added later, see LINK. The multiple scratch dials of St Margaret are shown below. DEH recorded 4, but there are several more. 5m NW of Yeovil; just S of dread A303. 50.9746 / -2.7156 / ST498197

DIALS

I visited St Margaret some time ago and have mislaid my notes on the various locations. The dials are all on the S side and all but one are in predictable locations though a couple are not easy to see. Most are on buttresses. One dial (3) is quite high up and would be easy to overlook. There are enough dials for me to skip – and for you to be spared – analysis of each one individually (for the time being at least).

DIAL 1

On the buttress at E end of the church

*St Margaret . Tintinhull . Som – Scratch Dial*

DIAL 2

On the same buttress as dial 1

DIAL 3

High on a buttress, E end

DIAL 4

S buttress

DIAL 5

On the buttress E of the Priest’s door

DIAL 6

Close to Dial 5

DIAL 7

S buttress

DIAL 8

S buttress near doorway

DIAL 9

E of porch

DIAL 10 (?)

According to the very useful resource Sundials On The Internet, the smallest known scratch dial is at St Margaret’s, location unspecified. It measures a mere 2 inches in height. Possibly it is the hole below. There is a very similar one at Leintwardine Shrops that has been deemed a dial, though it’s just hole with a couple of minimal indentations around it. I saw no other candidate, and had I not known about the 2″ dial I would have passed this by without a second glance.

*St Margaret . Tintinhull . Som – Scratch Dial*… *the smallest recorded?*

Polar Sundial. St Margaret . Tintinhull . Som

GSS Category: Scratch Dials; Mass Dial; Medieval Sundial; Multiple Scratch Dials

All photos: Keith Salvesen

DINNINGTON . SOMERSET . ST NICHOLAS – Scratch Dial

Published on September 11, 2022September 12, 2022 by Rolling Harbour1 Comment

St Nicholas . Dinnington . Som. (Geo / Sarah Smith )

ST NICHOLAS . DINNINGTON . SOMERSET

GRADE II † Established C12, first recorded 1207; mostly C15; restoration 1863. C13 (?) font. Originally the chapelry to nearby Seavington St Mary. Very pretty, both the building and the dial. 5m NW of Crewkerne. 50.9113 / -2.8505 / ST403127

DIAL

DEH visited in August 1915 and added a note to his often largely measurement-based record.

There is a full complement of 24 lines, with areas of erosion, radiating from the gnomon hole in the centre of the dial stone. I am not clear which added lines DEH refers to. I infer that the dial may have been a hemisphere marking dawn to dusk only from the horizontal 6-to-6 lines. Then perhaps for reasons of aesthetics / symmetry an upper hemisphere was cut to match it.

*St Nicholas . Dinnington . Som. – Scratch Dial and 180º rotation*

There’s another conundrum concerning the 4 terminal pocks in UR quadrant (above). If the dial is in its original position (L), they would have been useless and indeed pointless. But if the dial stone was at some stage at 90º or (more likely and convincingly) 180º from its present position, they would be effective as daytime Mass markers. In the rotated image (R), the pocks are in the right place to emphasise forenoon Mass.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Mass Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen, except header image Sarah Smith / Geo /

KINGSTONE . SOMERSET . ST JOHN & ALL SAINTS – Scratch Dial

Published on September 2, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

St John . Kingstone . Som. Credit: Julie Ann Workman

ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST & ALL SAINTS . KINGSTONE . SOMERSET

GRADE II* † Records from 1291; C14 chancel, porch; C15 tower, nave. A village with a long history, close to the Fosse Way, recorded in DB as Chingestone. 1m SE of Ilminster. 50.9188 / -2.8851 / ST378136

DIAL

This is an unusual dial, not least because there is a pair of style holes L and R and they are both similarly large. The dial stone is quite badly damaged and it is difficult to analyse the dial. R seems to be the primary hole for the gnomon. The only discernible noon line is below R, marked by a single pock halfway to the mortar line below. On either side, at roughly 11 and 1, are the only 2 clear lines in the whole design. It’s hard to see the purpose of L at all, and perhaps it was a later addition that didn’t add much.

DEH visited in 1915 and included his own theory:

*St John the Evangelist . Kingstone . Som*

GSS Category: Scratch Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen except header image as credited (a huge improvement on my own rain-affected photo).

SEAVINGTON ST MARY . SOMERSET . ST MARY – Multiple Scratch Dials

Published on September 1, 2022 by Rolling Harbour2 Comments

ST MARY . SEAVINGTON ST MARY . SOMERSET

GRADE II* † C13 origins (nave, chancel), considerable enlargement late C15. Norman font, trace wall paintings. Now in the care of CCT. Adjacent to Seavington St Michael and 4m E of Ilminster. 50.9306 / -2.851 / ST402149

DIALS

DEH visited St Mary in Sept 1912 on one of his early dial research expeditions in Somerset☩. He recorded a single dial on a buttress (Dial 1). BSS does not have a specific record for St Mary. I wasn’t prepared for the multi-dial display on either side of the porch..

☩

DIAL 1

Dial 1 is described by DEH in more detail than usual:

This dial is on a buttress half-way between the s. porch and chancel. It is about 5 feet 5 inches above the ground, the noonline is 3 1/2 inches in length, the style hole is 1/2 an inch deep to the top of the metal shank which is still within it, and about 1/2 an inch in diameter. On the noonline, close to the stylehole, is a hole for a peg, and there is another at the extreme end of this line in the next stone. There is also a peg-hole on the mass line.

There are 7 lines, starting with the horizontal 6am. The noon line seems to be a close double line, with noon itself being between them (as other churches in the area). There’s also a hint that it extends to the stone below, with a small terminal pock. The deeper cut line in the lower right quadrant presumably marked the main Mass of the day. No metal shank was evident.

St Mary . Seavington St Mary . Somerset

PORCH DIALS

Numbering needs correction at some time… 8 & 9 should be in the same row as 4 – 7; 10 & 11 should replace 8 & 9

DIALS 2 & 3

On the W side of the door are 2 adjacent dials on the same stone and of a similar design. Both seem to have been complete circles, now eroded. The larger has a very small style hole. The smaller has a couple of pocks but whether they relate to its function is not clear.

St Mary . Seavington St Mary . Somerset

☩

DIALS 4 – 6

On the E side of the door are 3 dials in a row on a single large stone, one with a string of pocks. Dials are shown in order left to right.

Dial 4

Dial 5

Dial 6

☩

Dial 7 (?)

Completing the line of small circle dials on the stone is a hole lower R. No definite lines / pocks are readily discernible but a photo enlargement suggests faint lines at 11 and 1. A damaged area just above the mortar line might mark extended noon line. There’s a faint impression of a circle. Is this a dial? The hole is in a logical place on the stone and would match the other 3 dials in scale.

☩

Dial 8 ?

On the quoin stone next to Dial 7, another similar hole without noticeable markings. In close-up it’s hard to make much of it – faint evidence of a circle, perhaps? – except that it fits the overall picture of a line of small encircled dials.

☩

Dial 9

In the top R corner is a quite different type of dial, semi-circular with several lines and circumference pocks that more or less match hour line positions. It strays onto the adjacent quoin stone and there’s an impression that it might once have had a top half, with the stone later replaced.

☩

Dials 10 & 11

Both dials are immediately below the others, and resemble dials 2 & 3. 10 is an eroded (part) circle with no discernible style hole. 11 is a complete circle with a very small hole from which – originally or perhaps later – a single line curves downward.

GSS Category: Scratch Dials; Multiple Church Dials

All photos: Keith Salvesen

SEAVINGTON ST MICHAEL . SOMERSET – 2 Scratch Dials, Medieval Graffiti

Published on August 3, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

SEAVINGTON ST MICHAEL . SOMERSET

GRADE II* Late C12, porched c1291; C15 alterations, C19 restoration. Attractively simple with its welcoming footpath, porch, and modest bell turret. Adjacent to S St Mary and 4m E of Ilminster. 50.931 / -2.8407 / ST410149

DIALS

BLB notes that the centre bay on south side has a blocked chamfered pointed-arched doorway, with diamond-leaded window inserted with cill just below springing. The dials are one above the other on W side of the doorway. Strangely, although DEH on his visit in 1915 records one dial in precisely this location, he doesn’t mention the second.

DEH noted that the buttresses either side of the recessed doorway inevitably block out the light for much of the day, as it had on the day he visited (possibly why he only found one dial?). He concluded that the buttresses were a later addition to the church (probably XVII Century), when the doorway was filled up.

DIAL 1

The uppermost, larger, less sophisticated, and the earliest of the 2 dials. 6, perhaps 7 lines. The ones either side of the noon line are slightly curved. Gnomon hole plugged though not with cement.

DIAL 2

Beneath Dial 2 and far more visible. There are 6, perhaps 7 lines, of which the the afternoon lines are much the clearest. The noon line has an unusually prominent pock. The adjacent lines LRQ are even deeper cut. One is also elongated, probably indicating the most significant Mass of the day. One of the fainter lines LHS heads ineffectively above the horizontal. The gnomon hole is surprisingly deep.

MEDIEVAL GRAFFITI

The church porch has plenty of graffiti including initials, Marian marks, ritual protection (witch) marks, and pilgrim crosses

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; medieval graffiti

All photos: Keith Salvesen

WEST CAMEL . SOM . ALL SAINTS – Scratch Dials

Published on February 20, 2022February 21, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

DEDICATION † ALL SAINTS. Late C14 with much earlier Saxon fragments; C15 features and alterations; C19 restoration; recent internal renovation. A pretty country church and path approach. Battlement and stubby spire on the tower.

LISTING † Grade 1

LOCATION † Just W of RNAS Yeovilton and S of the A303. 51.0195 / -2.5998 / ST580246

DIALS † DEH visited All Saints in May 1915, and recorded 2 dials, one which he found inside the porch. An uncommon find, and shared with other churches in the area. There are 5 dials in all.

DIALS 1 – 3

Dials 1 – 3 are on separate quoin stones of the tower E of the S porch. The eye-catcher is unmissable at the top, with a large style hole that has been considerably enlarged over the centuries. On the stones below are 2 more rustic dials that a very similar.

All Saints. West Camel . Som – scratch dial 1

All Saints. West Camel . Som – scratch dial 1 (π Erika Clarkson)

Dial 1 is a good example of a small line and pock dial. There are 13 lines with pocks (2 are eroded) and there is a double pock in the upper R quadrant on the bottom edge with (possibly) the stub of a line. There are hints of other lines and just possibly a faint shadow of near-erased circle. The deeper cut lines and pocks may indicate the most significant time of day for Mass, in this case between 9 (Terce) and noon (Sext). DEH describes it as a compact and rather curious little dial.

DEH 191. (2) This dial is on the s.w. corner of the tower. It is 5 feet 7 inches above the ground, the noonline is 2 1/2 inches in length, the stylehole is 1 1/4 inches deep, and the aspect is due s. Type 11, combining 3.

All Saints. West Camel . Som – scratch dial 2

Dial 2 is on the stone below. The style was presumably in the mortar line. There are 4 lines (Terce to Sext) ending in pocks. There are further pocks in the lower L quadrant, the top one corresponding with None. A true – if sketchy – Mass dial. The large hole beneath does not seem dial-related.

All Saints. West Camel . Som – scratch dial 3

Dial 3 has a very similar form, with 5 lines (2 very faint) emerging from the mortar line. It seems strange to have 2 dials so alike and so close. From the look of them, the upper dial would have been an improvements on the lower one.

It is hard to know what to make of the 4 pocks in a neat row on the R side. Possibly they belong with the hole above them. Conceivably the configuration could have worked as a crude or experimental dial but it can’t be rated higher than ‘doubtful’.

DIALS 4 & 5

Both dials are inside the porch on L side the original doorway. The present porch was added in 1866, replacing an earlier porch of unknown date. Such ‘inside’ dials are not unusual, but this particular area has several quite close together, eg BLACKFORD, LIMINGTON, WESTON BAMPFYLDE Note the traces of whitewash on and around both dials.

All Saints. West Camel . Som – scratch dial 4

Dial 4 has 4 distinct lines and traces in lower R quadrant. 3 of the clear radials extend to the mortar line below. It looks as though all the lines were originally roughly the same length, with 3 later crudely elongated (2 have bends).

DEH: 190. (1) This dial is on the w. side of the inner door of the s. porch. It is 4 feet 10 inches above the floor, the noonline is 4 inches in length, the stylehole is 1 1/2 inches deep by 3/4 of an inch in diameter, and the aspect is s. by 10° e. Type 3.

All Saints. West Camel . Som – scratch dial 5

Dial 5 is above Dial 4, and much simpler. 4 lines descend from the mortar line, one extended. The upper R one ends in a pock. The 2 pocks on the bottom edge probably emphasise noon. The large hole doesn’t seem to be part of the design.

Dials 4 & 5 close-up

*All Saints. West Camel . Som – scratch dials 4 & 5*

NOTE: fragment of a C9 Saxon cross-shaft with cable-roll interlaced decoration on 2 faces, discovered above nave East wall foundations in 1866.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial, Mass Dial

CREDITS: many thanks to Erika Clarkson who sent me the excellent close-up photo of Dial 1 and prompted my visit to All Saints and several other churches churches in the neighbourhood; All other photos Keith Salvesen

HOLTON . SOM . ST NICHOLAS – Scratch Dials

Published on February 1, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ST NICHOLAS . HOLTON . SOM

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 RHS The 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 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.

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.