Vertical Sundial – GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN

DURLSTON CASTLE . SWANAGE . DORSET – Vertical Dial (1887)

Published on June 2, 2024 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

DURLSTON CASTLE . SWANAGE . DORSET

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Durlston Country Park is close to Swanage and has much to offer. The ‘modern’ Castle was completed in 1891. There are extensive grounds, 5 walking / nature trails, sculptures, epochal details chiseled into stone tablets, Art Gallery, tea room, views across to IoW, a huge C19 stone globe, significant jurassic finds.

More germane here, high on S face is a fine vertical sundial (1887). Below it are two stone tablets inscribed with times and tides worldwide.

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DIAL

The dial is inset in the South wall about 5 m above the ground. It shows 6am to 6pm in half and quarter hours. Uses XII & IIII. White lines and chapter ring on a beige rectangular dial-plate all within a four piece chamfered stone frame. The Roman numerals arranged vertically. BSS

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An angled view reveals that the gnomon incorporates the initial B, standing for (George) Burt, the Victorian entrepreneur owner who conceived the idea of what we can still see today. It was (oddly?) described at the time as the most magnificently conceived restaurant.

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Two large incised tablets: essentially they deal with Time & Tides respectively

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GREAT GLOBE

Great Globe (1887), a vast perfectly formed stone ball inscribed with an eclectic selection of places. Many will be little known or unknown to random visitors such as me. The Society Isles (Pacific) sound pleasant.

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COMPASS POINTS

Stone Benches Surrounding the globe, at various heights and angles on a steep stope, are stone benches, each clearly marked with a compass point. In an ideal world there would be an equally fine analemmatic sundial.

GSS Category:

All photos by Keith Salvesen except header image Huligano0 OS CC

COMPTON . SURREY . THE WATTS GALLERY – Horizontal Dial by Mary Watts

Published on October 17, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

The WATTS GALLERY in Compton, Surrey showcases the work of artist G. F. WATTS and his wife MARY WATTS, exemplar of the Arts and Crafts Movement. The enterprise has expanded hugely since I last visited and took photos of the sundials there. The Gallery link above will give all the current information you could wish for.

You can find out about the remarkable Scaphe Dial at the gallery HERE

GSS Category: Horizontal Dial

All photos: Keith Salvesen

NEWTOWN LINFORD . LEICS . ALL SAINTS – 2 Scratch Dials, Vertical Dial

Published on August 15, 2022August 15, 2022 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

ALL SAINTS . NEWTOWN LINFORD . LEICS

GRADE II* † C14 / 15 origins, with later / C19 enlargement. Besides 2 scratch dials there is a vertical dial on the tower dated 1706. 6m NW of Leicester. 52.6832 / -1.2292 / SK522097

DIALS

The scratch dials are both on the S side. One is on SW corner of the tower; the other on the lower part of the L jamb of a window (I don’t have a more precise location at the moment).

DIAL 1

Dial 1 gives the impression of a spider, with legs radiating from the (blocked) gnomon hole in the centre of the dial stone. The clearest lines are at 11 and noon, the latter faintly extended. The others are rather randomly placed. There’s a line in the top L quadrant; and the hint of a line very roughly extending the noon line upwards. The 2 pocks don’t seem to be part of the design.

DIAL 2

Dial 2 is more conventional ‘morning dial’, with 6 more or less evenly spaced lines descending (but not very accurately) from a large filled style hole. Only one of the lines is after noon. Simple and straightforward.

VERTICAL DIAL 1706

*All Saints . Newtown Linford . Leics –* Vertical Dial

Set on the SE edge of the second stage of the tower, close to the intersection with the roof of the nave. Slate, made by Thomas Woodcock in 1706. Deeply cut and in excellent condition for its age. Initials I K. Cross for 12 noon. Quarter hours marked. The angles of the Roman numerals are carefully graduated as they descend and ascend, suggesting the work of a skilled craftsman dial-maker.

BSS notes very similar dials at Breedon on the Hill and at Leicester, all three being within a few miles of each other.

This interesting dial has been analysed and recorded in some detail by BSS:

The dial is fitted with iron dog nails to the south face of the tower, at the south-east corner, adjacent to the nave junction. The date 1706 is across the top, and being of the local slate, the dial is in remarkable condition for its age. Initials ‘I K’ are on each side of the date. Upright hours VI – + – IV – VI are aligned to the hour lines, which are drawn to a large semicircle around the gnomon root. Short lines mark the half hours, with fleur de lys or arrow heads, and quarter hours. The rusty iron bar gnomon has a straight horizontal support.

GSS Category: Scratch Dial; Vertical Dial

Photos of church and scratch dials, Erika Clarkson; vertical dial from BSS archive

RUSSBOROUGH HOUSE . WICKLOW . COURTYARD GATEWAY SUNDIAL

Published on August 12, 2021August 12, 2021 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

Russborough House . Wicklow . Ireland – Courtyard Gateway Sundial

RUSSBOROUGH HOUSE . Co WICKLOW . IRELAND – COURTYARD GATEWAY SUNDIAL

Russborough House, built mid C18 for Joseph Leeson, is one of Ireland’s finest Georgian houses. Set in a large estate in the Wicklow Mountains, the house is renowned for its outstanding art collections (see http://www.russborough.ie/art).

The pleasing and straightforwardly solid gateway to the Courtyard has a most interesting angled sundial with no part of it in an expected place. One consequence of its position is that the graduations are notably complex. The main photo in the gallery below shows this far better than I can explain it.

It is clearly not an old dial. I have seen one photograph that suggests that at some time it has been painted blue. I need to investigate further and will add the details if I can find a date for the dial.