Sundial Dates Dorset – GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN

ST CUTHBERGA . WIMBORNE MINSTER . DORSET

The origins of the Minster date back to the C8. The building seen today dates from early C12 with development during subsequent centuries. Leaving aside the merits of the splendid building, the impressively large stone block on the S side is unmissable. The plinth alone is 6′ high; S face is 4′ wide; E & W faces are 3′ wide. N face has an inscribed tablet only.

DIAL DATES

The images featured below give a good idea of each face, gnomon, and relative aspects, so I won’t go into more detail. However there is a conundrum about dates. There was at least one relocation of the dial, and areas of restoration / repair are evident. The inscription on N face is This ancient sun-dial was removed from the gable of the South transept at its restoration 1891 and was erected here 1894 George E Richards [and] Charles H Gush Churchwardens.

As seen today, the date 1676 is given top left of the south face on new stone. There is no date in the corresponding position on the right side. However in T G W Henslow’s delightful Ye Sundial Booke (1st ed 1914), his charming drawing shows the date 1732 in the top right of the south face with no date on the left side. And more confusingly, in the Wills’s cigarette card sundial series (1928, see below), both dates are shown.