Uzerche Corèze France Scratch Dial – GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN

ABBATIALE ST PIERRE . UZERCHE . CORRÈZE

Records of a ‘primitive building’ on this site date from C6. Subsequent monastic development followed. The present building dates from C11 (chancel, N transept); C12 (nave); C13 (expansion). Later in its long history the Abbey survived turbulent times during the many uprisings and downfalls in France. The Abbey was restored in the early C20. There is a saying ‘He who owns a house in Uzerche has a castle in the Limousin‘

This unusually large dial is cut on the SW buttress of the imposing entrance doorway. It is too grand to be given the normal designation ‘scratch dial’. The much less used description ‘Mass dial’ seems more appropriate in this case. It is accurately cut , and within the circle the 5 radials form 6 segments in the lower half of the dial. It is in remarkably good condition apart from the damage to the lower right quadrant. Further research is needed to find a plausible date-span for the dial’s construction.